Disney's Ghostbusters: Ghosts of War
by RetroWriter2012
Summary: The second story in the Disney/Ghostbusters saga! The Disney Ghostbusters meet new allies and face new ghostly enemies in the form of classic Disney villains in this all-new hilarious, action-packed sequel to "Who Ya Gonna Call?"! Reviews are welcomed!
1. Chapter 1: Once Upon A Time

**Chapter One: Once Upon A Time…**

In the land of Prydain, there stood a tall, light grey castle in the midst of a vast, lusciously green meadow filled with flowers of many types and trees of different sizes. During a wonderfully sunny afternoon, a woman in her mid-twenties with long blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a melodic, youthful voice was dashing across the meadow in her glittering white dress and sandals. She was laughing as she had done so, a huge smile growing across her face at each step she had taken.

It didn't matter all that much how heavy the sun rays were bearing down upon her or the small beads of sweat that developing beneath her bangs. Her only focus was getting to the tall tree with apples growing upon it. The tree was large and wide enough to provide shade from the sun at the moment she was able to reach it. Not only did it cool her, but it kept her well hidden from the one thing that she tried so giddily to keep away from.

While hiding behind the tree and often glancing around it to see if her pursuer was near, one of the apples from the tree had fallen and landed on her head with a faint _BOINK!_ If it were not for her hair to cushion the blow of the apple, she would have certainly been in more pain than she was at the time. She looked up to see where the apple might have fallen from and noticed a small, familiar dog-like creature with shaggy hair taking a bite out of one apple. Seeing him, the young woman's frustrations of the apple hitting her head went away, and she was happier than she already had been.

"Gurgi!" She said to the shaggy creature in the tree. "Do be more careful up there. You nearly gave me quite a stir."

The creature known as Gurgi stopped eating for a moment and looked down to see the girl down below, slightly rubbing her head. "Uh-oh! Clumsy Gurgi not paying attention to where he is eating. Gurgi apologizes to Queen Eilonwy. Gurgi begs her not tell King Taran of his blunder."

Eilonwy chuckled. "No harm done, Gurgi. Just be more careful next time." She glanced around the tree and realized that her pursuer was still nowhere around, before glancing back up to Gurgi and adding, "Now…do me a small favor and keep silent for a while."

"Is Queen Eilonwy in danger?" Gurgi asked.

"Oh, not at all," she assured with a smile. "I'm just playing a little game."

Gurgi jumped excitedly on the idea. "Ohh! A game! Can Gurgi play?!"

Eilonwy shushed him and replied, "You _are_ playing, Gurgi. Stay up in the tree and don't make a sound."

Gurgi placed his paws over his mouth and nodded in acknowledgment of the young queen's request. Meanwhile, she looked around the tree once more and finally spotted her pursuer – High King Taran, a young man that was not much older than Eilonwy with brown hair and eyes, equipped with his trustworthy sword that was sheathed at his side. He looked as if he was somewhat out of breath, but was able to maintain a bright smile upon his face. Floating near him was Eilonwy's "bauble," a small golden sphere that normally accompanied Eilonwy herself, but at the moment was guiding Taran in his search for Eilonwy.

Taran saw the many trees ahead of him that might as well look all the same to him, even though they were not in reality. He knew Eilonwy had to be behind one of them. His only clue to finding her was the bauble guiding him – it normally glowed with magical light when near her, though Taran could never figure out why, regardless of the many times he asked Eilonwy.

While glancing at the trees, Taran scratched his head in confusion. He asked the guiding bauble, "Can you give me at least _one_ hint?" And as if answering his request, the bauble circled around his head and did only that. Taran shook his head, knowing just what that gesture from the floating golden sphere meant. "Use my head, eh? Well, much help you turned out to be."

That was when he heard giggling from behind one particular tree straight ahead, which was the only clue he needed to determine where Eilonwy was hiding. With a sly grin and a plan formulating in his mind, Taran sneaked his way over to the tree located to the left of the one Eilonwy was hiding behind. As quietly as he could, he started climbing up on it, disappearing within the collection of leaves and branches.

The moment Eilonwy looked around the tree again, she was surprised to see Taran nowhere around. Her smile, which had been registering on her face for nearly a whole hour, suddenly faded into a confused frown. Taran hadn't given up on the game, has he? She was aware of his lack of patience and short-temper; but she would never figure on him being so childish during a harmless game of hide-and-seek.

Up in the tree, Gurgi's paws continued to cover his mouth, keeping his promise to Eilonwy in staying quiet for her and Taran's game. This was just the advantage Taran needed, as he leaped from one tree to another, snuck up behind his furry best friend, and snatched him. Gurgi muffled a surprise, as he realized that he was in the arms of his master.

Taran placed one finger upon his lips, gesturing for Gurgi to keep silent for him. As he did before with Eilonwy, Gurgi nodded in assurance, before Taran handed him one of the apples he plucked from the tree. Gurgi instantly started consuming the fruit, while Taran looked down below to see the confused Eilonwy still searching for him.

Taking advantage of the moment, Taran dropped from the branch he had been standing upon and landed right behind Eilonwy, not making a single detectable sound as he did. Smiling slyly, he tiptoed up to Eilonwy and, as swift as his body allowed him to, wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her halfway off the ground. She let out a hysterical shriek, having no idea whom it was that had caught her from behind, and even struggled under Taran's grasp.

"It's me, Eilonwy! It's me!" Taran exclaimed, easing her hysteria before it could get any worse.

Letting go of her, Taran watched as she spun around and glared at him, her once happy and then confused facial expressions turning into one of anger. "That was _not_ funny, Taran!"

Taran stared at her, very confused. "But I thought…"

"You're supposed to kiss me and _then_ pick me up," she said, just as she jumped onto him, knocking him off his feet and pinning him to the ground, while locking her lips upon his own. At first Taran was puzzled, but then he understood what was really going on and didn't hesitate in enjoying the passionate kiss that Eilonwy forced him to engage in.

In the tree, Gurgi observed the moment between the two lovers, as he enjoyed his own love of his life – apples. He took a huge bite out of the new one that Taran gave him, at the same time he finished off the one before. However, he soon found himself on an "apple rush" and went after all the other apples in the tree, biting out of each and every single one of them.

Meanwhile, the long, enjoyable kiss between Taran and Eilonwy had come to a close, and they spent the rest of their moment together simply gazing into each other's eyes. "For a moment, I believed you were truly furious at me."

Eilonwy smiled once again, gently stroking the side of his face. "How can I ever be furious at the man who I married so long ago."

Taran humbly returned her smile and said, "I love you, Eilonwy."

"And I love you, Taran."

The both of them attempted in another sweet kiss, until something landed with a soft _thud_ near them. Catching their attention, they turned their heads in the same direction and spotted an apple lying on the grass. It didn't take much for either of them to realize where it had come from.

"Gurgi!" They both said in frustration.

Eilonwy removed herself off her husband, allowing both of them to get to their feet and look upward towards to see Gurgi there in the tree, with a bushel of apples in his arms…and one horrified look on his face. Ignoring the fact that he dropped one of those apples and nearly gave one of them a concussion, Taran and Eilonwy were mostly focused on the expression of his face, which scared the life out of them both.

Gurgi appeared to have been staring across the area at something. Curious to know what, Taran and Eilonwy followed his gaze and spotted the one thing that mortified him: a hooded man with an impressive build sitting upon a horse that was as black as night. His hood obscured his face and his hands, gripping the reins tightly, were hidden beneath thick gloves that were made from the dark tan hide of an unfortunate beast. In fact, most of this stranger's attire seemed to have been made from animal skin, from the hood to his boots. And to add to his already menacing aura, perched on his shoulder was a falcon that appeared to have been his pet.

The sudden appearance of this man spooked Taran to the point that he unsheathed his sword, which he brought for such an occasion, and stood in a fighting stance. Eilonwy stood close behind him, fearing a fierce confrontation on the horizon, while Gurgi climbed down from the tree and ran away, dropping apples in the process.

"Taran…" Eilonwy sounded very frightened while staring over Taran's shoulder at the hooded outsider.

"Everything will be all right, Eilonwy." Taran assured her, not once taking his eyes off of the stranger across from him. "What is your business here, stranger? What brings you to the land of Prydain?"

The stranger was silent for quite some time, and then he answered in a deep, raspy voice, "I seek the one who defeated the Horned King, years ago."

Taran and Eilonwy both reacted in shock, not having heard of the events and people surrounding their adventure with the Black Cauldron for quite some time. They did not expect too many outside of Prydain to know of it, especially this one person who appeared to have come very far to look for Taran. Whatever association he had with the Horned King, it was best for the young High King of Prydain to be on his guard.

"I am the one you seek, stranger. I am High King Taran of Prydain!" He boldly introduced himself. "Now tell me what is it that you seek from me?"

The hooded man stared at Taran long and hard, only sitting on his horse and making no gestures or movements at all. And then, in the blink of an eye, he reached behind him and pulled out his sword, which was as sharp as any other but crooked in a way that gave it quite a menacing appearance. He jumped off his horse and soared high across the air, executing a perfect somersault as he descended on Taran and Eilonwy.

Taran had never seen such quick moves and began to wonder, as this stranger approaching him, if he was even human. Of course, his focus became much more on Eilonwy, whom was in harm's way at the moment. "Eilonwy, run! Get away from here!"

She wanted to argue and tell him that she would never leave his side; but the anxiety on his face convinced her that this wasn't the time for that. So Eilonwy fell back from the battle, hiding behind the very tree that she used for their game. Only this time, she would be using it as a shield to protect her from whatever blades came swinging her way.

Holding his sword up high, Taran blocked the first swing executed by the hooded stranger – a swing that was so powerful that it made his knees buckle. The stranger followed with another swing, which was twice as fast as the first, and caught Taran right across the torso. The young king howled in pain, clutching his torso and drenching his clear, peach-colored hand with the crimson liquid pouring out from his gashed chest. He didn't bother paying mind to it any longer, as his hooded opponent was forcing him to be on his guard again.

The swordfight became faster and more intense each minute, with the hooded swordsman gaining the upper hand and slashing each part of Taran's body whenever the opportunity was given to him. Bits of clothing and flesh were torn from him, and he became weaker every passing moment in the battle. From behind him, he heard Eilonwy tearfully plead for his opponent to stop. He wished she had not been there to see him like that – battered and bloodied. There were many wars that Taran went through in his reign as High King of Prydain, and Eilonwy always had seen him in such horrible condition. But nothing could compare to this moment, when he was ravaged to the point of near-death.

Eventually the hooded stranger did stop, once he watched Taran fall to his knees – his face cut in several places and sections of his clothes missing, exposing all of the gashes his body sustained from the brutal swordfight. He looked up in his weakened state, seeing the hooded man looming over him. Although his vision was blurred, Taran could make out something beneath the stranger's hood that truly mortified him.

And yet nothing could compare to what happened next.

The young king barely even saw the crooked blade come down across his neck, as it was moving at speed so fast that just blinking would cause the naked eye to miss it. Taran didn't blink; but he did feel a quick sting over the left side of his neck. After then, he didn't feel anymore. Only his sight described what he could've been feeling, as the world began tilting before his very eyes and he was falling. At the moment he hit the ground, he knew for sure that he was dead – his hooded opponent had slain him.

How right he was, once he noticed his headless body collapsing right beside where his head was lying. Although he couldn't actually feel the emotion coming over him, the shock of his own decapitation registered in his brain, which was the only part of him still alive to see what was happening. Devastation then settled in, as soon as Eilonwy came into view, screaming and weeping uncontrollably over his disturbing state. It was strange to him that he could only _see_ her crying – the world had become deafened to him.

Soon his vision began to fade as well, as everything started to get more blurry than it had already been. His hooded opponent appeared a distance behind the mourning Eilonwy, mounting back onto his horse and sheathing his sword back into the holster strapped to his back. Watching him ride off – his deed now done – Taran tried to make sense of what he had seen beneath his hood. However, as one who was dying like himself, it was hard to make sense of anything – especially as the world around had become nothing else than a black, empty void.

* * *

**South China Sea – 100 Years Later**

The sun was setting in the distance – its radiant beauty bringing a harmonious sensation over Fa Mulan, as she stood at the side of the ship that belonged to none other than the Emperor of China, who requested a "journey of tranquility" for himself and his soldiers. It was a hectic time for the people of China. With the third-year anniversary of the army's victory over the Huns (as well as the death of Shan Yu) on the horizon, it seemed as if more armies were declaring war against China for various reasons. As much as the Emperor tried to keep the peace between countries, some things were even beyond his own control.

Regardless of the pressure, Mulan and her husband, General Li Shang, were always there to protect the Emperor in his time of need. The week that they spent out at sea was the most relaxing time for Mulan especially, as it felt like the only time she was rewarded with such a pleasantry. Between the setting sun and the cool breeze blowing through her black hair, she could not have imagined anything more…

"I'M KING OF THE WORLD!!!!"

Okay…she could imagine _one_ better thing – not having Mushu tagging along with her on the journey.

There he was – the small, red dragon that was her closest companion, as well as guardian and protector – standing on the rail with his arms spread apart, his head titled back, and his mouth wide open with a little gray smoke seeping out from its sides. Cri-Kee was right beside him as well, mimicking the same gesture.

Seeing them both that way, Mulan shook her head and chuckled. "Mushu, you realize it's called a 'Journey of Tranquility' for a reason, right?"

"Girl, do you know how long it's been since I've been out at sea?" He asked her. "I've been cooped up on land for _way_ too long. I deserve a moment of screamin' my lungs out, if you don't mind."

Mushu took a deep breath, ready to unleash a howl of excitement amidst the quiet, peaceful atmosphere. However, he was robbed of the chance, once the ship suddenly rocked and knocked both Mushu and Cri-Kee off the rail. Mulan almost fell herself, but was able to keep herself leveled by grabbing onto the rail. She looked over the rail and stared into the deep, dark waters to search for whatever caused the ship to rock.

Meanwhile, General Shang exited from the Emperor's quarters and moved out onto the deck, his sword drawn and a heavily concerned look showing upon his face. He glanced at all of the soldiers running around – some looking over the rails, just as Mulan was doing, and others making status checks over the ship. For a journey that was supposed to be filled with tranquility, no one on that ship seemed to be experiencing any.

"What is going on here?" Shang asked. "Are we being attacked?"

One soldier replied, "It doesn't seem so, sir. It could be possible that we might've gone over some rocks."

"Rocks?" Shang remarked with a look of disbelief. "If we were sailing over rocks, we would be somewhere near land. Do you see any land around us, soldier?"

Taken aback by the harsh tone in the general's voice, the soldier glanced around and saw the large body of water that surrounded every side of the ship. In response to the question, he sheepishly stated, "No…sir."

"No, there isn't!" Shang snapped, his voice clearly heard from the others on the ship, including Mulan, who gazed upon him in surprise. "Why don't you do what you are trained to do and find out what is disrupting the Emperor's voyage?!"

After staring in bewilderment over his commanding officer's harsh attitude, the soldier carried out his order and walked away from Shang. Once the soldier was away, Mulan took a moment to approach her husband and say, "Shang, I know things have been rough, but please try to…"

"You order the men the way _you_ want to when I am not in command." Shang retorted. "In the meantime, let me handle this _my_ way. Understand?"

Mulan had disappointment in her eyes when she watched Shang return back to the Emperor's quarters. Ever since the wars began, he had become just as hard and take-charge as he was the moment she first met him – only this time, it seemed to have been much worse. And yet she could not blame him for acting so harshly around everyone, considering the fact that he had not been able to relax in the past three years. Not even she could remember the last time they were alone together, with no fighting or bloodshed around them.

"Don't have to ask or anything…I'm just fine!" Until the moment she heard him start complaining, Mulan had completely forgotten about Mushu, as he and Cri-Kee were thrown off the rail from the sudden shifting of the ship.

Looking down, she saw him lying there with a peeved look on his face. "Oh, Mushu, I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

"Would _you_ be okay if you fell twenty feet and landed on your butt?!"

Mulan chuckled over his exaggeration. "Twenty feet?! Mushu, the distance between the rail and the deck is much less than that."

"What? Now you're a mathematician?! As if being a boy wasn't enough for ya, now you're gonna lecture me on angles and distance?!"

She just shook her head and grinned, while he continued on with his ranting. Glancing back at the rail that he had fallen from, she noticed a pillar of steam seeping up from behind it. For a moment, she wondered if the ship had sustained damages from the "bump" they sailed over. To make certain for sure whether or not if it did, she dashed over to the rail and looked over.

What she had seen confused her: one section of the ocean surface was bubbling near the bottom of the ship. Mushu, who spent almost two minutes complaining to no one but himself, stopped as soon as he noticed Mulan looking over the rail. He got even angrier and shouted to her, "Hey, hey! Don't be pretendin' to ignore me while I'm in pain!" He then climbed up to the rail, with Cri-Kee following him from behind, and glanced over to see what Mulan was seeing. "Oh, man! What is goin' on here?"

"I don't know." Mulan uttered.

"Well, don't look at me," said Mushu, before pointing to his mouth. "This dragon don't get seasick."

Mulan pretended to ignore Mushu's disgusting comment and focused on whatever was causing the water to bubble. However, before she could even see it happen, something bobbled through the surface and bounced against the hard, wooden exterior of the Emperor's ship. Everyone onboard heard the loud thud it made and joined Mulan, Mushu, and Cri-Kee at the side to see what had surfaced.

The object appeared to have been a black cauldron with markings on all sides of it that looked very alien to the China-born soldiers. They began questioning each other, asking for a best guess on where the cauldron might have come from. Some of them imagined it to have been on a ship that sunk recently or long ago, while others presumed it might be a bad omen – sent by the gods as a warning that they were sailing upon cursed waters.

Whatever the case, Mulan opted for one thing: "Let's just leave it. I'm sure it's junk left behind by someone."

"What's junk?" She heard the voice of Shang speak out and turned to see him there, standing behind them all with a look of anger. "I thought we were keeping this ship together. What are you all doing?" He joined everyone near the rail and saw the cauldron floating in the water. "You are all focusing on _this_?!"

"Shang, I was the one who saw it first." Mulan said in defense of the soldiers. "I was just about to tell them…"

"What did I tell you about giving orders while I'm in command?!" Shang once again interrupted her, making her very upset in the process. "This is not _your_ ship to command!"

"And it's not yours _either_!" Mulan retorted, her eyes glaring right into his.

_KA-KHOW!!!_

A bright flash came through the atmosphere, followed by the loud pop emitted from the sudden thunderstorm brewing over the sea. The wind began to pick up intensity, nearly blowing some on the deck back a few feet. Matters became much worse as soon as the tides started getting wild, rocking the ship much more violently than it rocked before. In just a few seconds, chaos erupted within the once-tranquil area – the "journey of tranquility" became a mission of survival.

Shang immediately began barking orders to the soldiers, sounding harsher than he did only a moment ago. He sent them all into separate areas of the ship, having them perform different actions to keep it steady and intact. His main priority at that moment was to get the Emperor and everyone else safely back to land, before the storm ripped everything to shreds.

Mulan hung on tightly to the rail, doing whatever she could to keep herself, Mushu, and Cri-Kee alive. They seemed to have been doing their own part in it, leaping off the rail and running across the deck, while avoiding the feet rushing over them. "Mushu! Hide in the Emperor's quarters until this all settles down!" The dragon didn't think twice on her demand and ran directly into the area, with Cri-Kee clutched in his hands.

With her friends safe and Shang busy keeping the ship together with the soldiers, Mulan looked over the rail once more to see if the black cauldron was still floating in the raging waters. But as soon as she had looked…

_BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!_

A pair of viciously glowing red eyes stared into hers, paralyzing her with intense fear. She felt a skeletal hand reach out and clutch her throat so tight that the sharp tips of its fingers dug deep into her skin and drew blood. Mulan could barely even gasp at that moment, as the hand's violent grip robbed her of voice and breathing. Within seconds, she felt herself becoming very cold and drained of all energy.

Mulan stared into the face of her attacker, only to realize that there was no face there – only a skull with the same red eyes that struck her with a sense of intimidation like no other (not even from her confrontation with Shan Yu). This skeleton creature wore a red hooded robe with antlers protruding from its head. It was truly mortifying, and if Mulan had any life remaining in her, she would have been dreaded by its appearance more than she already was.

But she no longer had any life in her, as her entire throat and the upper half of her clothes were all drenched with her own blood. Her skin got very pale, and her eyes were dilated. Death came to her slow and painful, not the way she would have imagined to leave the world. And she certainly would not have expected it to come at the hands of such a frightening, undead opponent like this. Not once did she even defend herself from the unexpected attack.

Across the deck, Shang turned to where Mulan had stood and gasped in horror as he was met with the sight of his beloved wife being held four feet off the deck by her bloodied throat, dead at the hands of a creature unlike any he had seen before. Anger quickly overwhelmed the shock and Shang let out a wild scream, lifting his sword high in the air and running towards the creature that murdered the woman he loved.

The creature heard Shang's screaming and looked his way, seeing him advancing in its direction. It made no attempts of escape and only stood there, cackling sinisterly. Evil laughter resonated throughout the area and was soon overshadowed by another pop of lightning. A flash of light came once again and then…

All was normal again – the storm and the creature had both vanished without a trace.

Unfortunately, one result of the events that just occurred still remained: the dead body of Fa Mulan. There she was, lying near the rail where she was attacked, her neck bloodied and having a very pale complexion. All of the soldiers stood where they were on the ship, looking on in disbelief over what had transpired a moment ago. Shang could barely move himself, staring at his wife's lifeless body on the deck. Tears began to stream down from his eyes, as he thought about the last moment they had together, which was nothing but bickering and yelling at each other. It was not the last memory he wanted to have of her, but it was unfortunately the way it had to be.

Shang was finally able to force himself to move his feet and go to his deceased wife, dropping down to his knees and picking her up gently. As he cradled her in his arms, his face was heavily masked with tears and a feeling of pure rage filled his heart. When he finally reached his boiling point, he screamed to the heavens above, echoing throughout the calm sea. Somewhere out there was the creature responsible for the death of his wife; and as much as he wanted revenge, there was no way he would be able to find it. If only he could call someone to help him.

But who else _could_ he have called?


	2. Chapter 2: Night of Living Hell

**Chapter Two: Night of Living Hell**

**New York City – Present Day**

"BAHAHAHAHA! You is crazy, dawg! How the hell you gonna call a girl and ask her to dinner at the same house you livin' with your Moms in?"

"Shut up, man! I'm eighteen – I can move outta that dump when I want!"

"You better! Or else she gonna cut your butt to the curve and you ain't gonna see it 'til later!"

"Will you just be quiet? You gonna get us caught!"

J.T. and D-Bag were a couple of "homeboys" from the most ghetto section of Harlem, trekking all of the way from there to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, where a very large construction site was taking place outside near the park itself. Not very long ago, J.T. went there with his girlfriend of five months for a romantic evening of dinner (at _Burger King_) and a movie (a special showing of _Meteor Man_ at the Apollo Theater). To their surprise, they noticed one of the largest holes dug in the ground that they had ever seen. It seemed to have been extraordinarily deep, judging from the penny that J.T. dropped in, which never hit the bottom – that was, if there _was_ one.

So J.T. decided to take his old friend since childhood, D-Bag, over to the construction site, which was abandoned for the evening. Strangest part to D-Bag was how there were no signs of bulldozers or any other construction vehicles around the area. "Hey, where are da equip at?"

"I don't know, man. But, hey, check this out!" J.T. brought him over to the large, deep hole in the middle of the construction site. Being that it was nighttime, just like it was when he and his girlfriend went there, J.T. brought along a flashlight to shine down in the hole and search for the bottom.

Looking down in the hole for the first time, D-Bag couldn't believe how dark and deep it was. "Damn, dawg! You ain't lyin' about dis!"

"Didn't I say it was tight, man?" He shined the flashlight into the darkness for a few seconds, but the light just seemed to go further down into complete nothingness. "Can't see crap though. Wonder how far it goes down."

"I dunno – but I already found one good use for it." D-Bag then began to unzip his sagging, baggy jeans.

J.T. saw what he was doing and shielded his eyes in disgust from the raucous act his friend was committing. "Aw, man! C'mon now!"

"Seriously, dude, we walked twelve miles from Harlem and since then I've had to release somethin' _fierce_. No way am I lettin' this go to waste."

J.T. then began hearing a few drops hit the edge of the hole and walked away from the scene, genuinely upset. "Dis is da _last_ time I bring your stupid butt with me to see somethin'! You nasty, man!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm nasty. Think of how nasty the hobos who come here are when they be doin' this!"

"Least they got class!"

"Well, their class can kiss my…"

_RRRRR__AAAA__GGGG__HHHH__!_

The loud, unearthly noise came from only one place: the deep, dark hole. Its immense register echoed throughout the hole's structure, even causing a brief, heavy tremor. J.T. and D-Bag were needless to say spooked by the noise, which sounded like several of the deadliest species known to man, all stuck down in one hole. All of this was happening and D-Bag still had not finished "handling his business."

"Crap! C'mon, man! We need to gets the hell outta here!" J.T. was already running away from the hole in intense fear.

However, D-Bag – much to his surprise – was still "releasing his frustrations" down in the hole. If he was not so scared at that moment, he would've realized that his action was causing the disturbance. "I can't stop, dude! I'm _still_ goin'!"

"Just zip up and move!"

"You crazy? I'm wearin' my new jeans!"

"Then just move back!"

"What if I hit my _new_ shoes?"

J.T. rolled his eyes in annoyance, already standing a couple of yards away from his companion and the dangerous hole. The noise continued echoing out of it and the tremors grew bigger and fiercer. Meanwhile, D-Bag felt like he was reaching his end and not a moment too soon. Unfortunately, it was a little too late, as he noticed a colossal pair of orange, demonic eyes staring right at him.

"Oh, crap!"

From a distance, J.T. couldn't see the horror from within the deep, dark hole that his friend since childhood was witnessing. He could see that he was petrified from whatever it was, and as much as he wanted to help, he couldn't find the courage to do so. Before he could've come to any final decision, something big and wide enough to cast a monstrous shadow over the entire park had risen from the hole. J.T. clutched onto the gold cross that hung around his neck – a gift given to him on his thirteenth birthday by his pastor – and prayed.

* * *

Lisa Abney always had thought the atmosphere in New York City was the same every season – cold, damp, and crowded. She hadn't been anywhere near the city in eight years, when she graduated from Columbia University. Since then, she had been living peacefully in Tampa, Florida, where many changes happened in her life, from getting married to a brilliant, wonderful man named Rae Abney and starting her own paranormal investigation business. So why was she in the freezing, wet, and depressing atmosphere of New York City and not in the warm, dry, and happy one of Tampa?

The answer was in the current location she was standing in that particular evening, which was the same one where the Ghostbusters' firehouse headquarters stood. Word had spread about the return of the superstars of the supernatural, ever since the near-catastrophic incident that occurred two years ago, in which a powerful, long-dead sorceress named Maleficent created Armageddon over Manhattan. Thankfully, the Ghostbusters were there to avert the situation and save the world, much as they had done many times before. Only that time was different, when they had help from a new recruit named Alexis Embers, who was the largest factor in their comeback.

Of course, Lisa wasn't just another crazy fan who dreamed of owning J.G. Stantz's jumpsuit and selling it on _eBay_ for two thousand bucks. Unlike most people who came to the firehouse for help, press, or lame attempts of getting noticed, Lisa actually had history with the Ghostbusters – at least with three of them. Before she left New York City for eight years, she attended Columbia University with the three parapsychologists who started the business: Kimberly Venkman, J.G. Stantz, and Sean Spengler. Much of their time in the college was filled with trips to haunted spots, investigating history and collecting data on noises, sights, and other paranormal senses; the only exception being the Le Ficent Castle in Paris, France.

Unfortunately, Lisa was arriving with bad news following her. A few weeks prior to her arrival in New York City, she was visited by a few members of the "Junior Ghostbusters" program that Kimberly Venkman established last summer. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy came to Tampa, Florida with Goofy's son, Max Goof, and his best friend, P.J., at Lisa's request to investigate a disturbance that occurred in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. Apparently, the crew of the S.S. Tipton discovered a "black cauldron" floating along the sea's currents and just happened to bump its way on the hull of the cruise ship.

In their investigation on the bizarre, centuries-old artifact, Lisa and the Junior Ghostbusters discovered ancient markings that Lisa could've only deducted to come straight out of the medieval times. Further research proved her assumptions to be true, once she found details on its history in books. It seemed that the cauldron had some heavy supernatural usage, mainly as a secret pathway into the underworld. Other effects of the cauldron included bringing the death back to life – a case scenario that Lisa and the Junior Ghostbusters had the distinct displeasure in discovering upon their investigation.

The discovery proved to be too much for even Lisa to handle, hence the reason she traveled to New York City to consult with her old friends. She arrived at the Ghostbusters' firehouse headquarters that cold, rainy evening in a taxicab that she shared with Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Max, and P.J. all the way from the airport. It was the first time she saw the firehouse up close and personal. The building was almost as tall as the others that surrounded it, with the renovations made to it for the Junior Ghostbusters program last summer clearly evident. Just from glancing at it, Lisa already felt like she was at home.

For a brief time, she was caught in a trance, glancing through every inch of the firehouse's exterior. But then she heard Goofy's voice, as he addressed them from nearby the taxicab. "You all go on ahead. I'm gonna pay the driver our fee."

"Oh, no, Goofy. You don't have to do that." Lisa said. "After all you boys went through in Tampa last week, I should repay you. I'll take care of it."

"Nope, nope, nope." Goofy neglected. "I was raised to be a gentleman, Mrs. Abney. Just like I'm raisin' Maxie to be a gentleman as well. And I wouldn't be a good father figure if I didn't make a good example."

Max rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Oh, brother."

Lisa smirked at Max and gratefully told his father, "Thank you, Goofy. That's very nice of you."

Goofy smiled and turned to the driver, starting to pay a fee of fifty dollars through sets of one dollar bills – much to the driver's aggravation. In the meantime, Lisa and the others began making their way to the firehouse entrance, with Max grumbling over his first embarrassing moment of the night. "Why does he always treat me like a child in front of everybody? You know what I think? The only reason he joined the program was to watch over me! Plain and simple!"

"Ah, chill out, Max." P.J. said. "At least your dad supports your decision in becoming a Ghostbuster. Mine just disowns me every day."

"Now that's just cold-blooded." Lisa remarked. "What father disowns his son for making a good career decision?"

"You don't know my old man," answered P.J., just as the group made it to the front door.

Lisa knocked on the door briefly and waited a moment for an answer. The door opened and the head of a 28-year-old dirty blonde named Christina Melnitz, secretary of the Ghostbusters. She looked up and down at Lisa with her bored, tired blue eyes and said, "We don't accept visitations after nine o'clock – that's usually when the freaks come out. And you're certainly no exception, sweetie."

Blinking twice in surprise at her remark, Lisa uttered, "E-Excuse me?"

Sensing a confrontation coming up between the two women, Mickey quickly interjected and stood right in front of Lisa. "Hey, Christina! It's okay. She's with us. Remember the 'special assignment' that Doctor Venkman sent us on in Tampa?"

"Mickey!" Christina exclaimed; her face lighting up with happiness upon seeing the iconic mouse. "I missed you guys! Come on in!" Mickey, Donald, Max, and P.J. stepped right into the firehouse; but as soon as Lisa started entering herself, Christina blocked her path, staring coldly into her eyes. "I've heard of you, _Mrs._ Abney. I've heard the history that you had with Sean Spengler. And I just want you to know that if you even _look_ at him funny, I will _bury_ your butt."

Lisa grinned at the young woman and flashed the gorgeous ring on the finger of her right hand. "You see this? This ain't an abstinence ring, sister."

Christina gawked at the ring only briefly and then stepped aside, allowing Lisa to walk right in. While doing so, she noticed Goofy near the taxicab, paying the fee for their ride. Leaving the front door ajar for him, she followed the others past the garage, which normally housed the Ecto-2K (but the vehicle was currently away with Sean Spengler, J.G. Stantz, and Diana Zeddemore on an assignment). Max and P.J. took a seat on the couch near the flat-screen television set to the right of the garage, as it was displaying a rerun of Christina's favorite program, _LOST_.

"Hey, Miss M, where is everybody?" P.J. asked, looking around at the empty first floor of the firehouse.

"Well, Jay, Diana, and Sean are investigating a disturbance at the Museum of National History that was called in a few hours ago." Christina updated. "Meanwhile, Doctor Venkman decided upon herself to have a night off with Meagan, who just recently graduated from Junior Ghostbuster to full-fledged Ghostbuster yesterday."

Max and the others seemed very happy with this news. "Meagan's now a '_Real_ Ghostbuster'?"

"Awesome for her, man!" P.J. added.

"She deserves it!" Donald exclaimed.

"Yeah, between getting possessed by a demon and discovering a parallel world beyond our closets, she certainly had it coming." Mickey stated.

Lisa smiled over the enthusiasm amongst the Junior Ghostbusters. "I'm guessing Meagan must've really busted her butt to get to the top, eh?"

"No joke." Max remarked. "You should've seen her when we were in the Seventh Circle – I think she was the bravest of us all."

While Max was recollecting the shining moment of Meagan Tully's life, she noticed one section of the wall that was dedicated to all of the people who have joined the Junior Ghostbusters program since last summer, with each of their names and faces featured on their own commemorative plaques. There were up to fifty of them on the wall, and Lisa reached up to grab the one that had Meagan Tully on it. At a first glance, Lisa would have never figured on such a nerdy-looking girl to be the "bravest" of all the Junior Ghostbusters. Of course, in her line of work, looks could be deceiving.

It was then that Lisa was reminded of the first "unofficial" Junior Ghostbuster, Alexis Embers – the one who brought the team back together. She looked up and realized that Embers was not on any of the plaques, which confused her greatly. "What about Alexis? Why isn't she on here?"

Mickey, Donald, Max, and P.J. exchanged a worried glance; they debated on whether or not to answer Lisa's question. It wasn't until Christina abruptly answered, only not the answer to the question. "Why are you here, Mrs. Abney?"

Lisa could detect the tension in Melnitz's voice. Whatever she found out about her history with Sean Spengler, prior to her arrival, was obviously troubling the young secretary. Rather than create any more awkwardness amongst them, she explained to Christina, "There was something we found in Tampa that obviously can't be investigated by the H.S.P.R. We _need_ the assistance of the Ghostbusters to help find out more."

"Aren't there Ghostbusters in Tampa?" Christina inquired. "'The Real Tampa Bay Ghostbusters' they call themselves? Why not turn to them on whatever it is that's going on?"

"We did," Max said, "But Patrick Creel couldn't come up with enough research of what we found."

"What is it that y'all found?" Christina asked.

Lisa placed Meagan's plaque back onto the wall and answered, "A black cauldron of some sort – dating back to the medieval times…the sword and sorcery days. Are you fluent in Paganism, Miss Melnitz?"

"No, ma'am. I'm a happy Christian woman, thank you very much."

Lisa did her best not to laugh at her answer as she continued. "Well, in pagan beliefs, a cauldron is normally used for ways of fortune-telling or psychic work. This one is different though. We've witnessed its power. It brings beings back from the dead. We were nearly attacked by some sort of Viking in skeletal form, when we tampered with its magic."

Christina's eyes widened in intimidation. "Damn!"

"That's what we thought, too." Lisa said. "And it's that reason why we have to bring Kim, Jay, and Sean on this. We studied Paganism back in our years at Columbia University, and we often studied the myths of Prydain."

"Prydain?" Christina uttered the name in confusion.

"That's where we think the cauldron came from." Mickey informed. "Boy, you should've seen the information we came up with, Christina. Stories about undead soldiers invading a kingdom run by a young prince named Taran – all led by a being from the Underworld known as 'The Horned King'."

Christina honestly felt goose bumps just listening to the story. "Sounds like a _Disney_ movie gone wrong." She then added to the animated characters in the room, "No offense, of course."

"None taken," they said in unison.

Before Lisa could go on any further about the discovery in Tampa, Florida, they heard someone coming down the flight of stairs leading to the second floor of the firehouse, followed by a series of heavy coughs. Turning to where the noise had been coming from, they noticed a young woman with messy brown hair and a very pale complexion entering the room and wearing a blue velour bathrobe. At first Lisa was alarmed, believing it to be some sort of sickened homeless woman who snuck into the firehouse without Christina even knowing. However, as she got to the bottom of the staircase, Lisa was surprised to have discovered that it was Alexis Embers herself.

Needless to say, she looked worse for wear, with her pale complexion only the last thing on the list. Her eyes were extremely bloodshot – their normal blue color dissipating into total red, her lips were very chapped and merging with the color of her pale skin, dark rings were gathered under her bloodshot eyes, and wet mucus was running from her nostrils, forcing her to use a Kleenex to wipe it off. This was the image of a woman who was literally on death's door, and it seemed to Lisa that everyone was acting like it was nothing more than a common cold. It was clearly evident from the way Christina reacted upon her entrance.

"Alexis, what're you doing down here? You should be in bed!"

Alexis coughed before she answered in a groggily voice. "To hell with that bed! I've been lying down in it for so long that it's starting to sink in."

"Then we'll get you a new mattress!" Christina exclaimed, as she tried to urge her to go back upstairs. "Just please get back to bed."

She didn't budge; instead she focused on the young unknown blonde standing in the room. "Who's that?"

Christina noticed that she was pointing to Lisa and said, "She's nobody. Now get yourself back to…"

"I'm Lisa Abney, Alexis. I've come all the way from Tampa, Florida to meet Kim, Jay, and Sean and get them to help me on something _very_ big."

"Well, what is it?"

"No, no! You're not gettin' involved in her crap! You tried to go with Diana, Jay, and Sean when they got the call from the museum, and I practically had to tackle your stubborn butt to the bed. Now do you want for me to do it again?" Christina threatened Alexis, although she didn't seem too intimidated.

"Chris, shut the hell up and just let me watch some television, okay?" Alexis retorted, as she made her way to a nearby chair and watched the program on the flat-screen with Max and P.J.

While Embers's attention was on the television set, Christina stood close to Lisa and whispered, "What do you think you're doing? She's in no condition to be encouraged into going on another crazy adventure."

"What's wrong with her?" Lisa inquired, gazing upon Alexis in concern.

Christina sighed, calming herself down long enough to give her an answer. "We don't know. Ever since what happened two years ago at the Tipton Hotel, she's been showin' all kinds of weird signs. She's literally a walkin' corpse – no heartbeat, no pulse…not a single breath left in her."

Lisa turned to Christina with shock registered on her face. "She's dying?"

"She's already dead." Christina remarked. "She died the moment after they kicked Maleficent's butt back to wherever she came from. The woman you just met is nothin' more than a shell of her former self – and I'm not speaking figuratively, honey."

It all sounded very confusing to a paranormal expert like Lisa herself. The science of it all was perplexed in many different ways, and she doubted if even Sean Spengler had any explanation for it. But there it was, right in front of her very eyes – Alexis was neither alive nor dying, but rather somewhere in between the two. Regardless of its baffling nature, it was an intriguing aspect in paranormal pathology; but it certainly had to be troubling for Alexis.

"Poor thing," Lisa uttered, "There's got to be some way out of this for her."

"What you think we've been trying to do these past months?" Christina snapped. "Why do you think I've been trying to get her to stay in bed? Whatever this is that's happening to her is getting worse. If we don't do something about it soon…I've got a feeling we're going to lose her forever. And I wouldn't want for Jay to go through another loss like that again."

Lisa was caught by surprise on that last statement of Christina's. "Jay? You mean he and Alexis are…?"

Christina nodded before Lisa could've finished. "Very much so. They got engaged last September – and ever since then, he's been adamant about finding a cure for whatever she's got, pressuring Sean into doing extensive amounts of research and leaving everyone here without sleep for months. It's insane."

"You should've seen those boys go at it back in Columbia U, especially Sean." Lisa said, with a chuckle. That was when she sensed Christina looking at her in that same way as when she first entered the firehouse. Glancing at her, she saw that exact look and nervously said, "Well…I mean…in terms of researching…nothing else." She wasn't sure why she was so nervous in explaining herself to the young secretary, as she figured that she already made herself clear on the fact that she was married.

The awkwardness between the two women was suddenly driven away, as soon as some "breaking news" on the television set caught the attentions of Mickey, Donald, Max, P.J., and Alexis. "Whoa, man! Check that out!" P.J. shouted in a mixture of fear and awe, while pointing the high-definition image of a monstrous fifty-foot tall serpent-like water beast with a long neck connected to a sinister head with razor-sharp teeth and orange, devilish eyes.

Christina and Lisa stared at the monster rampaging through Fifth Avenue in wide-eyed horror. It was Lisa who appeared less terrified enough to voice her distinct amusement of what she was seeing. "Dear God! Is that what I think it is?"

"W-What?" Christina stammered. "What is i-it?"

"It's a Hydra – a beast believed only to exist in Greek mythology." Lisa explained.

"I hate to break it to ya, Doctor Abney, but that's no myth swingin' its tail near the Metropolitan Museum of Art!" Max indicated.

Lisa reached for the remote control near Max and P.J., using it to turn up the volume on the set. The petrified voice of the "eye in the sky" reporter, Ciciley Park, was heard over the speaker. "A-As you can n-now s-see, the creature h-has m-moved from Queens to the c-center of F-Fifth A-Avenue in less t-than an h-hour! The m-military is d-doing all it c-can to s-stop w-whatever t-this t-thing is!"

_KA-BOOM!_

Fifteen missiles struck from the barrels of military tanks blocking the path of the colossal monster, exploding over its huge chest. Unfortunately, neither of them had any effect on it whatsoever. All it had done was make it angrier than it already had been, lashing out its head at the tanks and consuming them one-by-one. Ciciley could be heard over the airwaves moaning in disgust over the sight.

"Oh, dear god! Where the hell did this thing come from?"

Lisa pressed "mute" on the television set, just as the telephone on Christina's desk rang. Immediately, she went and answered it. "Hello?" She heard Sean Spengler's voice come over the receiver. "Yeah, we just saw it on the news just now." She listened to the plan he had come up with and furiously answered, "Don't bring them into this fight – some of them are just kids! Go get Doctor Venkman and Meagan and put them into this crap!" He gave an answer to her retort to which she calmly notified, "Mickey and the rest of the boys are back now. They can help you out."

"Oh, my gosh!" Mickey exclaimed upon realization. "Our equipment is still in the trunk of the taxicab."

"And the taxicab's our only way to get to Fifth Avenue!" Donald added.

"We've gotta go now, before Dad finishes paying our fee!" Max alarmed. "Aw, man! I hope he hasn't reached that fiftieth bill yet!"

The four characters then rushed out of the firehouse as fast as their feet could carry them, while Alexis started to get up from her chair. Lisa, seeing how she was making her way over to the Ghostbusters' lockers, stood in her way and asked, "Whoa! Where are you going?"

"Where do you think? To help my friends!" She answered, before letting out another serious of heavy coughs.

At the corner of her eye, Lisa could see how anxious Christina was to get off the phone and go over to prevent Alexis from taking another step. Lisa thought it best to do it for her by offering to Alexis, "Let _me_ handle it, Alexis."

Confused and surprised came upon Embers's face at her offer. "You?"

"You?" Christina remarked, inadvertently speaking into the receiver at the same time and confusing Spengler in the process. "No, I'm sorry. Not _you_, you. Just…"

"Yes, me. I've had some experience with a Proton Pack in our altercation last week, so I know all the tricks of the trade." Lisa assured, while going to the locker of Kimberly Venkman and pulling out the special equipment. She almost reached for the uniform hung within it as well but stopped herself and ignored the thought of putting it on.

Seeing the hesitation, Alexis curiously asked, "Aren't you gonna wear it?"

Lisa shook her head and said, "Nah. Don't think I've earned it yet."

And with that, Lisa rushed out of the firehouse and joined up with the others in the taxicab. Before they were driven away from the firehouse, the driver turned to them and clarified in aggravation, "I'm not taking one dollar bills at the next stop! Pay in twenties, fifties, or hundreds! But no more one dollar bills! Got it?"

Goofy glanced at the wad of dollar bills in his hands. "Uh…anybody need change for a hundred?"


	3. Chapter 3: Clash of the Protons

**Chapter Three: Clash of the Protons**

On the news of a gigantic creature attacking one section of New York City, much of everyone was rushing to home and packing to leave the city as soon as possible. Traffic was building up heavily from Lower Manhattan to the Manhattan Bridge. The most impatient motorists went as far as abandoning their vehicles and running the rest of the way to freedom. Unfortunately, every single motorist in the city was impatient with the traffic, creating more chaos than there already had been amongst them.

One of the vehicles that fell victim to the monstrous traffic jam within the city just happened to have been the taxicab that was carrying Lisa Abney, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Max Goof, and P.J. Their objective to reach Times Square and find Kimberly Venkman and Meagan Tully – who were reported by Christina Melnitz as having their "night off" at Hoots – and reach Fifth Avenue as fast as possible was failing miserably. There they were, sitting in the center of traffic on 42nd Street – just a few blocks away from their destination, and not even budging an inch. To make matters worse, people in the vehicles around them were abandoning them just like all others were, practically leaving them stranded in the middle of the street.

It was not very long before their driver had done just the same. Lisa didn't have to bother even asking him, but she did anyway, "Where are you going?!"

"Look around you, lady! This city is a death trap with that _thing_ run-in' around! I'm gettin' the hell outta here while the gettin's good!" And with that, he frantically ran away from his taxicab, not worrying over the door that he left open or the meter that he kept running.

While the terrified driver was running away, Goofy stuck his upper body out through the passenger side window, holding up a large bag with a dollar sign on it and telling him, "Hey! Don'tcha want yer one-doller bills?" He did not get an answer from the fleeing stranger, leaving Goofy to turn to his companions and say, "I don't think that man likes his job."

A frustrated Lisa Abney opened her door, went to the trunk of the taxicab, and gathered the Proton Pack that she placed inside, strapping it to her back. Her friends soon followed afterward, fully aware of the hastiness of their situation. But even Max had to wonder aloud, "What if Doctor Venkman and Meagan aren't there now? I'm pretty sure they might've high-tailed it outta here like everybody else."

"Still, it wouldn't hurt to check." Lisa stated, before pointing in the direction of east. "Mickey, you said the Hoots restaurant was down in that direction, which is the direction of Times Square, right?"

Mickey gazed in that direction and back at Lisa, nodding in reply. "Been a long time since I went by there but…yeah, most definitely."

"Then we'll head there by foot." Lisa said, just as a strenuous look registered on her face. "Man! These Packs are a pain in the butt!"

"Ya get used to it." P.J. told her.

"No, I mean they're _really_ a pain in the butt." Lisa clarified. "I think a bolt or something keeps poking me back there."

Ignoring her discomfort, Lisa led the small group of Junior Ghostbusters down east of 42nd Street, passing through several abandoned, immobile vehicles along the way. Their destination – although just a few blocks away from their previous position – felt to have been a lot further than they believed. Between the heavy equipment and the long distance, the jog they took to the restaurant quickly turned into a stroll in just a matter of minutes. Suddenly a day at the gym was looking more like a reward than a punishment for the party of six.

By the time they reached Hoots, half an hour had passed. The group was completely exhausted, sweating and panting like crazy. Their backs, legs, and feet all felt as if they were fire simultaneously. Lisa knew the last time she had the Proton Pack on her back was intense; but this was entirely different. Learning how to shoot one was one story; learning how to perform cardio with it was another.

The group strolled their worn-out bodies into the restaurant. Mickey was less than surprised to discover how dull the hangout seemed to be that night. It had been nearly two years since he stopped by there, when it was really popping. On a night of complete hell, not a single soul was in sight outside or inside the restaurant – except for two oblivious souls. Needless to say, it was an even lesser surprise to discover those two souls were none other than Kimberly Venkman and Meagan Tully.

Sitting at a booth with her head down next to a bottle of _Samuel Adams_ and wearing a silk, black, long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans, and black slippers was Kimberly Venkman, who looked to be either sleeping or dead. Thankfully, it appeared that the redhead was in fact _alive_ with her chest moving up and down to signify her sleeping form. They possibly would have heard her snoring ridiculously, if it were not for the drunken karaoke singing by Meagan Tully, whose wild voice rang through the speakers set around the stage she was dancing upon. In fact, Meagan's singing was all that _could_ be heard in the empty atmosphere.

Lisa stared at the sight in utter disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me!"

Nearby there was a high-definition plasma television set displaying the news coverage of the Hydra rampage. Although the sound was on mute, the scroll at the bottom of the screen depicted the action that was taking place onscreen. It seemed that the beast of Greek mythology seemed to be moving away from Fifth Avenue and heading directly towards Times Square – right near where they were that very moment. The Ghostbusters (J.G. Stantz, Diana Zeddemore, and Sean Spengler) were shown to be chasing after the Hydra, firing repeatedly at the monster to limited effect. It appeared that the three were trying their best not to strike the beast at the neck, due to its ability to grow an extra head when severed – smart tactic for a short time.

"_I'm in looooovvvvvveeeeee…with the other woman! My life was fineeeeeeeee…till she blew my mindddddddd!_"

Meagan's singing was giving them a terrible headache – as if running a mile to the restaurant with nuclear accelerators strapped to their backs wasn't enough punishment. She was practically butchering a classic 80s song by Ray Parker Jr. and too drunk to even realize it. Immediately, in an attempt to end the drunken madness, Max ran to the wall socket that the karaoke equipment had been plugged into and yanked the plug right out from it. Although everything instantly went dead on stage, Meagan continued to sing as if still being guided by the monitor that had been turned off…and _still_ butchering the lyrics to the song.

"_Now I know how to play Pokemon games! I throw the ball and out come weird things with names!_"

"Meagan!" Mickey shouted to her.

"_Your smile's gone so why so serious! I dug 'Dark Knight' more than the Burton series!_"

"Meagan!" Donald attempted to catch her attention himself.

"_I'm in loooooovvvvvvveeee…with the other Batman! My life was fineeeeee…till Heath Ledger blew my minddddddd!_"

"MEAGAN!!!" Everyone yelled out, terrifying the young, recently-promoted Ghostbuster to the point that she collapsed right on the stage.

Mickey jumped in shock at the sight. "Oh, boy."

While Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Max, and P.J. went to check on their former fellow Junior Ghostbuster, Lisa went to her former college roommate, who was lying facedown in a pool of her own saliva. She reached forward and snapped the bottle of _Samuel Adams_ on the table in front of her, seeing that it was practically empty. Lisa couldn't help but to shake her head. In eleven years, Kimberly Venkman had not changed one bit – the only difference being that she held PhD's in parapsychology and psychology, making the "doctor" title harder to believe each time someone addressed her as such. In all honesty, J.G., Sean, and Lisa herself were more doctors than Kimberly could ever hope to be.

In an attempt to wake the good doctor from her drooling slumber, Lisa slammed the emptied _Samuel Adams_ bottle down hard on the table, generating a sound loud enough to make Venkman quickly shoot her head up in reaction to it. Her short red hair was much disheveled from whatever length of time she spent partying with Meagan, and a stream of saliva ran down the side of her mouth from the time she spent sleeping. To say she looked like a wreck would be an understatement. Kimberly looked as if she already went ten rounds with the beast that was rampaging through New York City.

Looking up with her bloodshot blue eyes, Kimberly blinked several times before her vision was able to focus clearly enough to see that her old college friend, Lisa Abney, was standing in front of her. Perplexed, she said in a hoarse voice, "Lisa? Did I wake up in Tampa all of the sudden?"

"No, Kim. You're still in New York City." Lisa clarified for her. "What're you doing here?"

Venkman's hands went to her tired face, rubbing it roughly to help shake off the aftereffects of the alcoholic beverage she drank. She sounded muffled while answering Lisa's inquiry. "I wanted to give the kid a nice little celebration in becoming a Ghostbuster – like a quinceañera and bar mitzvah rolled into one. She wanted to go to _Pizza Planet_, but I suggested something more finesse like here, and are you wearing a Proton Pack?"

That question seemed to have snuck its way into her statement unexpectedly. Lisa seemed a little lost, until she remembered the heavy ghost-busting device was still strapped to her aching back. "Oh! Yeah! That's right! We gotta an emergency happening right now, Kim. J.G. and Sean are…"

"Oh, my god!" Kimberly exclaimed upon gazing at her watch in horror. "It's almost a quarter to eleven! I'm having dinner with Jonathan tonight! He's probably sitting there at _Gusteau's_, wondering where the hell I…"

Lisa could barely believe how oblivious she was. Without even realizing it, she frantically yelled to her, "KIM! Look at the television set, girl!" She pointed to the plasma T.V. nearby that continued to display the Hydra monster approaching Times Square.

"So? _Hercules_ is on the Disney Channel again." Kimberly remarked. "What the hell's that got to do with me?"

_RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!_

The loud, unearthly noise was soon accompanied by a sudden tremor that shook the foundation of the restaurant they were standing – or sitting – in. It was enough to briefly snap Venkman out of her drunken stupor and force her to get up from the booth. With Abney and the Junior Ghostbusters behind her, they stepped out near the front entrance of Hoots and glanced down the street, which was the direction the noise echoed from. There, in all its horrifying glory, was the fifty-foot behemoth of Greek mythology, slithering its one and only head (at least as of that moment) in and out between the skyscrapers that it towered over. Kimberly Venkman's reddened blue eyes stared at the sight in a mixture of shock and amazement.

"Huh…well, there's something you don't see everyday."

"Unless it's on the Disney Channel, right?" Lisa jested, garnering from an amused grin from Venkman.

She glanced at her and asked, "You wouldn't have happened to have brought along a spare Pack, would ya?"

"Only the one that I've got on my back and poking my butt constantly." Lisa began to remove it from her body, handing it over to Kimberly.

"It does that to you, too? Man! I've got to fill Spengs in on that one." After strapping it to herself, she rushed back inside the restaurant. Watching her go, Lisa could hardly believe how much she seemed like a pro with all of that heavy machinery strapped to her. She really had been in the business a lot longer than Lisa figured. Following her inside, she and the Junior Ghostbusters caught up with her as she approached the stage that the half-conscious Meagan Tully was still drooped over. "Hey, hey! C'mon! Wake up, kiddo! Celebration's over – we've got some _serious_ work to do!"

Lisa shook her head at the drunken youth in front of them. "Just leave her be, Kim. She's messed up as it is."

Hearing that from Abney, Meagan suddenly shot up and exclaimed, "I AM NOT!!! I'm as straight as Adam Lambert! Don't tell me when I'm rurrrr…rearurrrr…burrrrr…RURRRRRRRR!!!!"

Kimberly saw it coming even before it happened, which was why she pushed everyone back right as it did. The young, recently-promoted Ghostbuster vomited right on the once-clean floor and even over the edge of the stage. Hands went over mouths and noses to protect them from the horrendous smell that was quickly fumigating the building. Turning to Lisa, Venkman freely admitted, "She's pretty tore up, isn't she?"

"No foolin', Sherlock!"

Directing her attention to Max and P.J., Kimberly then ordered, "Alright, you boys stay with Megs. The grown-ups are gonna handle the fifty-foot monster outside."

"Wh-Wh-Wh-What?!?!" Max and P.J. exclaimed in surprise, and before either of them could make a complaint, Kim and the others were already out of the restaurant, going to confront the Hydra. "Awww, mannnnn!!!"

They stared at their messy former Junior Ghostbuster, who grabbed the microphone sitting next to her and asked the two boys, "Any requests?"

* * *

46-year-old General Tracy Belcher was used to being in the front lines of battle all her life in the military. She had seen things overseas that would make the most common woman soil herself before fainting from extreme shock. Whatever nightmares one could imagine in war, she was there to witness it firsthand. But the particular situation she was facing that evening with the bizarre, unearthly creature rampaging through the streets of Manhattan was far from anything she had faced before. No matter how much ammunition she ordered her men to fire at it, the thing still kept going, stomping on heavily armored tanks and smashing against buildings to bring chunks of debris over soldiers.

The only thing that could truly pull her out of the hellish nightmare she was in – the Ghostbusters. Only three of them were there – Dr. Sean Spengler, Dr. J.G. Stantz, and Diana Zeddemore (who recently earned her doctorate in historiography) – and they were not doing much to stop the beast themselves. It was Dr. Spengler who suggested for them to take heavy precaution in not severing the beast's head, as it would only lead to a "disastrous chain reaction" (his exact words to General Belcher). All they were doing in the three hours it was tearing through Midtown Manhattan was practically tickling it with their different bits of ammunition.

Spengler, Stantz, and Zeddemore fell back and regrouped with the general and her soldiers some distance away from the Hydra, whose attention had been distracted from the soldiers continuing to fire upon it. Once they were at her side, Belcher immediately yelled to them, "I thought you pansies could handle something like _this_!"

"The Hydra is a mythological creature of the Underworld, General." Stantz explained. "That basically means he's running on the same psychokinetic energy found in the gods we've faced in the past, like Hades and Gozer. You can't just merely shoot and expect it to go down in the blink of an eye."

"Then why the hell are we wasting time shootin'?!" Belcher exclaimed.

"Because we're just stalling long enough for Dr. Spengler to capture a good reading of the beast to figure out its weakness – much like he has now. Right, Sean?" Zeddemore asked…but there was no answer. "Uh, Sean?" The Ghostbuster's attention was heavily on his P.K.E. Meter, despite all of the distractions between Diana calling out to him, the monstrous roar of the Hydra, and the ringing gunfire from the soldiers. With a heavy base in her voice, Diana yelled one last time, "SEAN!!!"

It worked. Spengler's attention suddenly snapped away from the P.K.E. Meter and focused on his companions and the general. "Oh…sorry. I believe that I've found the solution to our problem." He moved to the others and shared the information on the ghost-hunting device with them. "We need a higher concentration of protons to tear through the Hydra's core and shatter it from the inside out."

"You mean force it to explode?!" Belcher reacted in a mixture of surprise and disgust. "Dr. Spengler, do you realize what kind of mess that would make to every block in this sector of the city?"

Spengler grinned. "That's why we'll have to lure it somewhere feasible for the reaction to erupt. I'm deducting the Manhattan Bridge to be a perfect central point for it."

"The Manhattan Bridge?" Diana uttered with a contradictive tone. "Sean, you're talking about almost a million petrified people on that bridge trying to get out of the city. Not to mention the massive traffic jam from here to there."

"We're not going to attack it from the ground." Spengler indicated. "We're going to attack from the air…or, to be more precise, the U.S. Air Force will." Stantz, Zeddemore, and General Belcher all stared awkwardly at him, clearly confused of what he just said. "I recently designed schematics for F-22 Raptors that have proton-powered guns and weapons that carry enough concentration to destroy the Hydra. These fighter aircrafts were reserved only for a situation like this. All I have to do is contact the air marshal, and he will bring them in under less than a few minutes."

The others nodded in understanding, albeit they were still perplexed over the idea of Air Force fighters armed with "proton-powered guns and weapons." It all sounded like something out of a bad science fiction flick. Then again, the whole situation was turning into one in itself. Whatever Spengler had up his sleeve, it had to be an improvement over…

_BOOOOOOONNNNNGGGGGSSSSSSHHHHHHH!!!!!!!_

Out of nowhere, four particle streams zapped over the heads of the three Ghostbusters and the soldiers, connecting with the neck of the Hydra beast and severing horrendously. The beast let out a sickening roar of agony while its severed head began tilting and falling its way towards the people below. Quickly, they cleared the street and ran to the opposite sidewalks just in time to avoid the Hydra's head as it crashed violently onto a collection of abandoned vehicles, tanks, and stations. Chunks of metal and pavement flew into the air, showering the groups on the sidewalks, followed by a brief, heavy tremor that knocked them all to their feet. The Hydra's headless body collapsed right at the center of the intersecting street corner – a foul-smelling, fifty-foot carcass slumped right out in the open.

Needless to say, its defeat didn't please everyone. Between almost getting crushed and a disobeying of direct orders, General Belcher furiously shouted, "WHAT JACKASS FIRED THAT SHOT?!?!" The bizarreness of the firepower should have been enough of a clue for her. But, of course, in her blind rage over what just occurred, she barely took notice from it.

"You're welcome," said a voice from behind the severed Hydra head.

Within a moment, four figures emerged before General Belcher and the Ghostbusters, one of whom was Dr. Kimberly Venkman, who held a smoking particle thrower confidently over her shoulder. At her side were Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy – each brandishing their own smoking particle throwers – as well as Lisa Abney, a face that was only familiar to J.G. Stantz and Sean Spengler. Their arrival came as a heavy surprise; especially Abney's (being that it had been years since Stantz and Spengler saw her). Yet, at the same time, it was extremely unnecessary – a fact that an unhesitant General Belcher bluntly pointed out.

"Dr. Venkman, do you have any idea what you have just done?!"

Kimberly glanced around the chaotic scene, her look of confidence not departing from her face. Seeing how weary it looked to be, the other three Ghostbusters could only presume that she had been drinking just moments before her "good deed." In answer to the general's question, she answered, "I do believe I just saved the world, General. And, lucky for you and your armed forces, we'll mark this one down as 'free of charge'."

Belcher looked to be on the verge of boiling over in anger. Before she could let it all out on Venkman, J.G. stepped forward and told her, "Kim, don't you remember what the Hydra's greatest 'defense mechanism' is?"

Venkman snickered up a response. "Jay…relax, dude. What're the possibilities of this being the same monster of Greek mythology that Disney had so naively depicted in _their_ take on it?"

Before there could be any answer to her inquiry, a sickening sound echoed throughout the area. It sounded as if bone and muscle were contorting or blending themselves together. All eyes turned to the headless Hydra carcass in the street, watching as it stood upright. Then, as Spengler, Stantz, and Zeddemore suspected, two sets of heads melded through the grotesque hole left from the recent beheading of the monster. These heads were similar in nature to the single one the Hydra had – only they were fiercer as a pair.

Witnessing the unnatural display, Venkman debunked her thesis. "Alright…maybe they were more accurate than I'd anticipated…just this one time. I still have some doubts about their version of _Pocahon_…"

"RUN!!!!" J.G. screamed upon seeing the two-headed beast stomp its way towards them, screeching even louder than it had with only one head.

Several soldiers opened fire on the monster, acting more on instinct than wisdom. Consciously they knew their weapons would have no effect on the creature; but they still desperately tried to fend it off. Their feeble attempt only cost them their lives, as the Hydra slashed one of its heads their way and snapped its razor-sharp teeth over them, consuming each and every one with just one bite. Seeing this, Belcher ordered the remainder of her troops, as well as the Ghostbusters, into the office building they were standing by. While doing so, Sean Spengler took out his _Droid_ phone and attempted to reach the Air Force base in Washington, D.C. that housed the fighter aircrafts that was undoubtedly their only hope in stopping the rampaging, two-headed beast.


	4. Chapter 4: Déjà vu

**Chapter Four: Déjà vu**

The best thing about charitable gatherings to Pete was the "all-you-can-eat" banquet. Normally when there was an "all-you-can-eat" deal with it, the overweight E.P.A. agent would not think twice about skipping the table that served the various mouth-watering cuisines. Considering that the "Environmental Watch" event in the ballroom on the forty-fifth floor of the W. Atherton Tower was being catered by the _Gusteau's_ staff, he was definitely not going to pass on the chance of seeing what fine dining was like compared to the half-burnt leftovers his wife Peg cooked at home. Although he was there mostly for his services as an E.P.A. agent, Pete was there for the food.

While much of the attendees gathered to hear the speech given by one of the founders of the Environmental Protection Agency, Pete was already piling a plate with various dishes from the banquet table. Alfredo Linguini, the son of _Gusteau's_ founder (Auguste Gusteau), stood behind the table with six other chefs from the restaurant, including his wife, Collette Tatou-Linguini. They watched Pete in disbelief, as he piled various classy dishes over one another, turning it all into one disgusting mountain of mush. It was not the proper way they should be served, and it made all of the chefs – with the exception of Linguini – sick to their stomachs.

"If I stand and watch this any longer, I am walking out of here." Collette declared in her heavy French accent.

Linguini put his hands on his wife's shoulders to help relax her. "Take it easy, take it easy. I'm sure he just…uh…r-really hungry."

Collette noticed the way he was rubbing her shoulders and gawked at him awkwardly. "What are you doing?"

Even Linguini himself wasn't too sure of what he was doing. "Er…um, y-you just seem very t-tense. A-And…I thought…uh…"

_URRRRRPPPPPPPPP!_

The chefs cringed at the disgusting belch that Pete let out, after consuming a portion of the amalgamated food he had piled onto his plate. Scratching his belly and picking at his teeth, he asked the chefs, "You guys got any _Dr. Pepper_ I can wash this down with."

Glaring at him, Collette reached towards a bucket full of ice and various different bottled beverages, pulling out a bottle of the particular one that Pete requested. She removed the cap for him, allowing some fizz to seep out, and handed the drink over to the slob. Of course, she didn't do this without giving a smart remark, "You know, sir, most _Gusteau's_ customers in Paris refer to have their meals with some fine wine or even water…not a soft drink."

"Yeah, well, I got two problems with those choices, kiddo…one – somebody's gotta be da designated driver…and two – I'm lactose-intolerant." Pete said, before gulping down the bottle of _Dr. Pepper_.

Out of nowhere, all of the attendees – most of whom were the press – began murmuring in excitement for reasons unknown to Pete or the chefs. It wasn't until they noticed them looking in the direction of the ballroom entrance when they saw the source of the excitement: **the Ghostbusters**. They certainly were _not_ invited to the event – with their negative history with the E.P.A. over usage of their "highly toxic" equipment – and their presence there only sparked more outrage from the founders, who called for security at least over ten times. However, the strict voice of General Tracy Belcher silenced their pleas for help.

"Listen! You people _must_ evacuate the premises _immediately_!" Belcher told everyone. "This area is now a hazard zone!"

"Hazard zone would be putting it _very_ mildly there, General." J.G. remarked.

Setting aside his drink and plate, Pete licked his lips and sucked his fingers while approaching the uninvited guests. "You jokers just can't bust in here and take over da place howevers you see fit! This is a party for distinguished peeps only!"

Kimberly glanced up and down at him, seeing the various stains on his tuxedo (which looked like it was a little too small for him with his gut poking out through the shirt). "Well, you do certainly fit the bill, Slim Shady."

"Pete, there's a two-headed monster outside this building right now, and he could attack it at any moment!" Diana informed. "You all have to get out of here, before it tries to get in!"

The overweight E.P.A. agent shook his head with a grin. "Boy, you phonies will stoop pretty low just ta get attention, wouldn't ya?"

With that comment, Kimberly detached her particle thrower and said, "O.K., screw the chivalrous approach – we asked ya'll nicely." She then aimed the thrower at the large chandelier hanging at the center of the ballroom and fired one powerful protonic stream upon it, causing its entire structure to detach from the ceiling and crash near the group of attendees.

Venkman's wild maneuver seemed effective enough to drive all of the guests out of the room, including the E.P.A. founders and _Gusteau's_ chefs. It was a move that nearly drove her colleagues insane, especially when they were reminded of how intoxicated the parapsychologist still was. Spengler looked away from his _Droid_ phone only briefly to see the damaged she caused before shaking his head and returning his attention back to the phone. The only person pleased with what just happened was Kimberly herself, feeling a sense of accomplishment.

"Just call me the party crasher! BAM!"

She suddenly felt a tight squeeze over her upper arm, almost as if someone was taking her blood pressure. It was a very angry General Belcher, who roared to her, "If you try anything like that _ever_ again, I will kick your butt so hard that you'll be 'screwy' in the head!"

As she felt her right arm going numb, she told the good general, "Okay, I know I'm drunk…but that made absolutely _no_ sense at all." The grip over her arm got tighter. "Ow, ow! Okay, okay!" Belcher let go of her arm once she acknowledged her command, and Kimberly regained some feeling within it again.

Pete glanced at the damage that Kimberly caused with her Proton Gun and instantly went berserk. "Are you outta yer mind?"

"Hey, Pete, look…FOOD!" Diana directed his attention to the unoccupied banquet table, which his eyes practically glistened over while his mouth watered heavily. With his focus drawn elsewhere, Zeddemore turned to Spengler and queried, "How's it coming with Air Force contact?"

"I'm sending in a code through text." Spengler answered.

Lisa was a bit taken aback. "You're 'text-messaging' the Air Force?" She grinned and then added, "Only in America."

"You're _sure_ the Raptors will be able to take down this thing?" J.G. asked.

"Willing to bet my own life on it, Jay." Sean remarked.

A stunned look masked over Kimberly's face as she looked through the large window in the room. "Looks like you're getting your chance, man!"

Everyone else looked through the window as well and was just as startled as Venkman was to see one of the enormous heads of the Hydra, peeping through the glass. The horrifying beast then let out an incredible howl that heavily vibrated the window to the point that the glass completely shattered. Near the buffet table, Pete (who was already piling up yet another plate of food) nearly choked on the cinnamon bun in his mouth when he heard the Hydra shriek. Letting out a muffled squeal, he quickly dashed out of the ballroom, still carrying the plate of food.

Kimberly stepped forward and aimed her Proton Gun directly at the Hydra's head. She was about to fire until J.G. approached and forced her to lower the weapon. "No, don't, Kim! It'll only make him angrier!"

"Excuse me, Jay! But if there's anybody who's getting _angry_, it's _me_!" Venkman retorted.

"No, that's just the hangover settling in." Diana jested.

_RRRRAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!_

The group suddenly took notice of the way in which the Hydra's head began rearing itself, prepping itself for some sort of attack. Realizing that, General Belcher screamed, "Let's get our butts outta here _now_!" No one argued with that command as everyone was already making their way for the door. However, before many of them could reach it…

_CRASH!_

The bulbous, grotesque second head of the Hydra busted through the window frame, sending chunks of debris flying in all direction. Kimberly, being the last one to exit the ballroom, saw how close she was to the left side of the monster's noggin. Its eye glared directly at her, and it even snarled at her through its razor-sharp teeth. It was almost as if the beast was challenging her straight on.

That, of course, was a huge mistake on the beast's part, considering how much the good doctor _loved_ a challenge. Once again, she aimed her Proton Gun directly at it and opened fire upon its eye – the one thing that drove her crazy more on its grotesque head. The Hydra let out an ear-piercing howl of pain, its head flailing around all over the room in aggravation, smashing against the walls, ceiling, and floor. When it hit the floor, however, it practically went right through, creating an enormous tremor beneath the feet of Kimberly Venkman.

"Aw, crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!"

She lost her balance immediately at the moment that the tremor occurred, falling down the hole that used to be the ballroom floor. Her body fell into total darkness, leaving her uncertain of where and how she would land. Chances were that she would either break her leg or die – she wouldn't mind too much if it were the former. It wasn't until she landed on something rough and yet mushy without any injury that she gained a sense of relief. But when the particular thing she landed upon started moving upward at a remarkably fast rate, she went from relieved to cautious very quickly.

As she was brought back into a lighter atmosphere, the worst scenario possible happened right before her eyes: **she landed right on the Hydra's second head!** Venkman hung on for dear life, as the Hydra brought its head out of the wrecked ballroom and out of the building entirely. Looking down, she could see how high up he was, which she estimated to be sixty stories up. If she hadn't feared falling to her death too much before, she certainly was right at that time. Unfortunately, falling to her death was the _least_ of her troubles.

_RRRRAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!_

It wasn't the head of the Hydra she was on that let out the horrendous howl – it was the _other_ one, which spotted her clinging onto its "partner." Just a yard away from the both of them, it appeared to have been warning the other of her presence atop of it. Of course, she couldn't have any of that. If there was one thing the Ghostbuster was going to make certain of in this battle – other than _not_ to get killed – it was to show dominance over this beast.

_Hell, if Hercules could take on this thing by himself, so can I!_

_

* * *

_

_I've done everything as you say_

_I've followed your rules without question_

_I thought it'd help me see things clearly_

_But instead of helping me to see_

_I look around and it's like I'm blinded_

_I'm spinning out of control_

_Out of control_

_I'm spinning out of control_

_Out of control_

_

* * *

_

J.G. led everyone down the stairway after successfully escaping from the forty-fifth floor of the building. They could still hear the Hydra roaring ferociously outside, doing lord knew what out there. It was certainly not the best idea coming in the building from the beginning, but at least one good thing came out of it – helping the guests of the E.P.A. event escape while they could. There was no way they would get a gold star out of it, especially considering the insane method that Kimberly Venkman used in getting them away. But the important thing was that they would be safe.

The whole situation gave Stantz a sense of déjà vu. Another high rise scenario, another gigantic monster on the warpath, and another incredible risk factor involved. It was something that was too intriguing from him _not_ to share with his colleagues. "Wonder why we always get ourselves into these types of situations."

Diana caught on to what J.G. was saying and remarked, "It's New York, Jay…tons of chances in running into the same type of situation as before."

Lisa was the only one who seemed a bit confused of the topic in their conversation. "What do you mean 'same type of situation as before'?"

"The Tipton and Mr. Stay Puft." Diana answered.

"The Tipton and Maleficent." J.G. added. "Seeing a pattern here?"

Glancing behind her, Lisa made a startling discovery. "I'll tell ya one thing that I _don't_ see – Kim!"

Everyone stopped in their tracks and looked amongst their small group to realize the same thing as Abney did. Venkman was totally absent, which left them to guess her whereabouts. Then it struck J.G. and Diana of exactly where she was, and – needless to say – they were not pleased whatsoever. "Aw, crap."

_BOOM!_

Without warning, one section of the wall from within the stairway area exploded just seventeen feet above their location, bringing a hail of debris raining down over them. They covered their heads and flattened their bodies against the wall, doing their best to avoid all of the chunks. As soon as all of them had passed, they ran back up the stairs and went to the large hole that was made in the wall by the lifeless Hydra head drooped over it. Standing right on top of the head was a battered Kimberly Venkman, whose clothes were both tattered and covered in green blood – Hydra blood.

"Kim! What the hell happened?" Lisa asked while in total shock of her disturbing appearance.

Venkman climbed off of the lifeless Hydra head, her drenched Proton Gun gripped firmly in her hands, and told Lisa and the others, "You people may want to start running!" And before any of the others could ask why…

_BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_

Almost every section of the wall exploded as eight live Hydra heads busted in, slithering like gigantic snakes in and out between the stairs. Each of them were eyeing the six terrified humans standing in their midst. They reared their heads and prepped for attack – much like the Hydra head from the ballroom. But the Ghostbusters robbed them of the opportunity and opened fire on the ferocious heads before any of them could get near.

The proton streams were successful in holding the heads back, but at their low intensity level, they were not doing much damage. Stantz, seeing the path cleared for them _only_ heading _up_ the stairway, turned to the others and ordered, "To the roof! It's our only chance!" And leading the group, they all headed upward, while the Hydra heads slithered out from the area, taking another plan of action against the mortals.

* * *

_Where should I go?_

_What should I do?_

_I don't understand what you want from me!_

'_Cause I don't know_

_If I can trust you_

_I don't understand what you want from me!_

_I feel like I'm spinning out of control_

_Try to focus but everything's twisted_

_And all alone I thought you would be there_

_To let me know I'm not alone_

_But in fact that's exactly what I was!_

_

* * *

_

The group busted through the door leading out to the rooftop of the W. Atherton Tower, just as a rainstorm had begun. Immediately, each of them started to get drenched from the rain, with the noticeable exception of Kimberly Venkman, who was cleansed of all the Hydra blood covering her body. However, even though she was cleansed of the blood, she was _not_ cleansed of the "sin" she committed with the Hydra. Needless to say, she received quite a tongue-lashing for it from General Belcher.

"What is your malfunction, woman? Weren't you specifically ordered _not_ to engage dismemberment with the creature?"

Venkman shrugged her shoulders innocently. "What else was I supposed to do? I was right on top of the thing's head, and its 'friend' saw me coming a mile away! What? I was supposed to let it _eat_ me?"

"If you care about your country, you would have!"

"And what the hell is that supposed to…?"

"SHUT UP!" Diana screamed to the women. "In case you two have forgotten, we've got one _huge_ problem on our hands!"

J.G. tried to look on a brighter side of the situation, unlike most of everyone else. "It's not _too_ bad. I mean, we're only dealing with eight heads."

_MMMAAARRRGGGMMM!_

The inconceivable, unearthly moan sounded in all directions and echoed throughout the heavens. Slowly, from all edges of the rooftop, at least thirty ferocious Hydra heads rose, all snarling and glaring at Belcher, Abney, and the Ghostbusters. The six of them stood back-to-back with one another, staring at the enormous, grotesque heads that had surrounded them. There was no escape from them – the beast would attack from anywhere and everywhere.

"Venkman…" Lisa uttered.

"Yes?"

"If we make it to the other side together…remind me to kick the livin' crap out of you right in front of God!"

Spengler suddenly felt his Droid phone vibrate in his right hand, which signified that a text had been sent over to him. Once he read it, a hopeful grin grew over his face. Seeing him reading the text, Diana demanded, "Please tell me the Air Force is here!"

"That's affirmative." Sean confirmed. "However, I might've made a slight alteration to our plans."

Stantz heard the statement he made and inquired, "What kind of alteration?"

_MMMAAARRRGGGMMM!_

The group was quickly reminded of the danger facing them that very moment, leaving Sean Spengler with no time to explain his statement. All four of the Ghostbusters gripped their Proton Guns, ready to fire when the time would come to do so. Just as before, the Hydra reared all thirty of its heads back, prepping itself to unleash the final lethal blow to the mortals. The creature knew for certain that it had them right where it wanted them – and the sinister grins registered on all thirty of its faces were clear evidence of that.

With realization over what was on the verge of happening settling in, Lisa Abney shut her eyes and prayed, "Dear God…help us."

Her prayers were answered.

_SHERRRRRRR-BOOOOOOOMMMMM!_

The explosion rang just as a hue of purple light emerged over all edges of the rooftop and disturbed the Hydra. All thirty of the heads moaned in extreme pain, flailing all about with agony in their faces. Then a few of them began to swell from the neck up and "regurgitate" the same hue of purple light that flashed beneath it. The other heads soon followed, swelling up hard and spewing out purple energy to the point that the entire rooftop structure became almost crowded and totally bright. And the six human beings standing at the center of it all were forced to cover their eyes and head in safety from it all.

Then the unimaginable happened…

_SKURR-SPLISH!_

…the Hydra beast exploded.

Billions of fleshy chunks flew all over Midtown Manhattan, while green blood mixed in with the current rainstorm and came down all over that particular section of the city. A strong foul odor began to seep into the air as well, which – if Spengler had to guess – was the creature's intestines scattered throughout the structure of the W. Atherton Tower. As successful of a mission as it was in defeating the monster, it left very many with a sense of dissatisfaction, mostly from General Belcher (who was practically seething over what just happened) and Kimberly Venkman (who was once again drenched in Hydra blood).

And to cap off a disturbing end to the evening, the six F-22 Raptors that saved them with "proton-powered" bombs fired upon the creature flew high overhead in a "V" formation. Instead of formally saluting the pilots for their heroic deed, the Ghostbusters (predominantly Venkman, Stantz, and Zeddemore) simply outstretched their arms toward the jets and extended their middle fingers. It was a gesture that matched their distain for the massive mess the bombs created. Luckily, the pilots were too far away to see them.


	5. Chapter 5: Bad Days Are Here Again

**Chapter Five: Bad Days Are Here Again**

To say that Kimberly Venkman felt like hell the next morning would be an understatement. She actually felt like total crap all over. Not only did she _feel_ like it, she _looked_ like it also. Her medium-length red hair was completely disheveled, her eyes were redder than they were on the previous night, and her clothes – which she didn't bother to take off before going to bed – were unkempt and reeked of Hydra blood and entrails. And to make matters worse, there was not a single bit of the other night that she could recall – even if she tried, the massive hangover that pounded within her head prevented from it.

_BANG!_

The sound of pots and pans clinging together didn't do her hangover much justice, as the noise amplified a millions time more to her sensitive ears. Through her nearly blurred vision, she saw Louise Peck in the kitchen on the second floor of the firehouse, apparently cooking bacon and eggs while in her Junior Ghostbuster uniform. Once the Junior Ghostbuster noticed Venkman's appearance in the room, she smiled and cheerfully said, "Good day to you, Dr. Venkman! Did you sleep well?"

Kimberly mumbled a response that she assumed was audible enough for Louise to make out, but it clearly wasn't.

Pausing for a moment to take in whatever it was she just heard, Louise just smiled and remarked, "I'll take that as a 'yes'." She set up two plates on the counter and brought them to the large, wooden, and circular brown table that Venkman sat down at, rubbing her face with her hands. Peck set down one plate in front of Kimberly and another in front of herself. "Oops! Almost forgot!" Returning to the counter, she picked up two glasses of freshly-squeezed orange juice and placed them down by their plates.

Venkman immediately took the orange juice at the moment it was in front of her and chugged the whole thing down in one gulp. As soon as her thirst had been quenched, she asked Louise in a clearer voice, "This is the twentieth morning in a row you've been kissing my butt, Peck. Knock it off!"

Louise laughed at her words. "You silly girl – stop being so random! Can't two girls have breakfast together without business getting in the way of things?"

"Ever since Hardemeyer quit, you've been working pretty hard to keep yourself anchored into it. Must be tough being the only butthole here now."

And, as if on cue, Kuzco walked by them and said in a singsong voice, "Good morning, ladies!"

"Correction – the _second_ butthole." Kimberly uttered.

Picking up her fork, Venkman was about to dig into the eggs. But then, without warning, her plate was suddenly removed from in front of her, leaving the fork to only dig into the surface of the table. She looked up at Louise, who had a very peeved look on her face upon getting up from the table. "You're a bloody impossible woman, Venkman!" On those words, she started to walk right out of the kitchen.

On her way out, she passed right by Kuzco, who was making himself some toast. He noticed one of the plates Louise was holding and joyfully exclaimed, "Ohh! Bacon and eggies! My favorite!"

"Make it yourself, spoiled child!" Louise snapped at the young emperor while exiting the room.

Kuzco frowned at the attitude of the former E.P.A. agent. "Sheesh! What's her problem?"

Kimberly shrugged. "The hell if I know." She then yawned and added, "Aw, man. I'm going back to sleep."

"No, you're not!"

She jumped once she heard the strict (and yet familiar) voice address her, just as she was on the verge of getting up from the table. Gazing over at the same doorway that Louise exited through, Kim's bloodshot eyes registered exhausted surprise when she noticed her old college friend, Lisa Abney, standing there and looking very upset. Venkman frowned as she asked her, "Lisa! W-When did you show up here in New York?" She then paused, looking around carefully, and added, "Wait…this _is_ New York, right?"

"I heard that one last night, Kim – when you were sitting drunk as hell inside of Hoots!" Lisa exclaimed.

Kimberly's hands went to her head, rubbing it very hard. "Aw, God! For the life of me, I can't even remember what all happened the other night." She sniffed her clothes and winced in disgust from the foul odor they gave off. "Jeez! I smell so funky! Where was I? In a morgue?!"

Lisa walked further into the kitchen, passing by Kuzco and the toaster and picking up a television remote control for the flat-screen television set on the wall across from the table. As soon as it turned on, the lovely face of Ciciley Park appeared on the screen in full high-definition. But there was more than just Ciciley's face that was the center of attention. There were also the huge chunks of flesh hanging off the cars and buildings behind her, as well as the pools of green blood all over the street.

If there were any viewers who had been paying close attention to Ciciley's face, they would notice her wearing a naso-buccal mask as she was reporting. "As you can see, in the aftermath of last night's attack from the unearthly beast that has been referred to as the 'Hydra', much of Midtown Manhattan has been left in a complete mess of flesh, bone, and blood in all areas of this sector of the city. The cause of this mess is the very same people who _saved_ the city from the beast, and they are the Ghostbusters."

The image of Ciciley then switched to pre-recorded footage of the other night, as Lisa, General Belcher, and the Ghostbusters were coming out of the entrance of the W. Atherton Tower – which was dripping with Hydra intestines at the time. Ciciley's voice could be heard over the footage as she described what happened at that precise moment. "The city's greatest heroes were met with extreme negative reaction from Midtown citizens, pelting them with garbage, including pieces of the Hydra's flesh found on the street."

Footage of Kim climbing onto the roof of the Ecto-2K and making obscene gestures, from giving the finger to mooning the crowd (all, of course, were blurred out on television), was featured in the broadcast. "I attempted to get an interview with Dr. Kimberly Venkman, but she was too…er…preoccupied with the citizens at the time." The last image of Kim sticking her tongue out and flashing to the crowd brought out a small chuckle from the good doctor herself. Lisa, on the other hand, did not find it quite as hilarious.

The broadcast switched to earlier that morning as Ciciley interviewed two blonde sisters named Jessica and Joanie, who looked just as furious over the recent incident as most of the other Midtown citizens while standing outside of their apartment. In a voiceover, Ciciley reported, "I was able to get some words from a few citizens. These two sisters were evacuating the city at the time of the attack. But when they returned home, they were met with quite a disturbing sight."

"We were, like, scared out of our wits the other night, right?" Joanie replied, carrying a very "Valley Girl" persona. "But then we hear on the radio…"

"While jammin' to TobyMac, okay!" Jessica added, being equally as V.G. as her sister.

On that comment, the two sisters shouted in unison, "Holla!"

"But we hear on the radio that the Ghostfreaks took care of that butt-ugly Hydro-whatever thing." Joanie stated.

"_So_ gross and foul, okay!" Jessica made that comment with flipping her hair with a look of disgust.

"But, like, nothing can be as foul and gross as when we came back and saw _this_ in our living room!"

Joanie opened the door to their apartment and revealed exactly what Ciciley referred it as "a disturbing sight." There, taking up just about all of the space in the apartment, was the grotesque, massive, bulbous, and lifeless head of the Hydra – one of the many to have been separated from its body when it exploded. Its unresponsive eyes were staring right at Ciciley, Joanie, Jessica, and the cameraman – as well as all of the viewers – giving a very discomforting feel. A foul odor seeped out from the dead carcass, forcing Ciciley, Joanie, and Jessica to cover this mouths and noses.

"Ugh! Please! Close the door! We've seen enough!" Ciciley exclaimed, and Joanie closed it immediately, sealing both the odor and corpse away from them.

Jessica shivered and yelled, "Those damn Ghostfreaks! How the ***bleep*** can we live here anymore? Our fiancées will be coming home from Iraq soon!"

"Yeah, how are we, like, supposed to live _here_ after we get married in two weeks?!" Joanie angrily queried.

Ciciley shrugged and suggested, "You can always move."

Joanie and Jessica frowned in disgust at the reporter. "As if!"

The scene then switched to a street corner, where Ciciley (wearing her naso-buccal mask) was interviewing two thuggish-type women named Terah and Raechelle, whose faces were not covered with masks to protect their senses from the smell – although they _were_ covered with piercings. Ciciley was somewhat disturbed by the piercings, as well as the purple highlights in Terah's hair, more so than she was by the odor around them. In a voice over, she reported, "Some citizens of Midtown were 'fifty-fifty' on the results of the Ghostbusters' deeds."

"Yeah, we're a little ticked that the place where we usually go to buy our ***bleep*** now's got a giant monster spleen sitting there," Terah stated, "but…you know…***bleep* **happens someone's got to deal with it and who ya gonna call?"

Ciciley cleared her throat and asked, "What sort of 'stuff' were you buying before last night's rampage?"

Both Raechelle and Terah glared at the reporter, clearly unsettled from her question. The Kiwi-born Raechelle then screamed through her thick accent, "Do you _want_ us to rip your ***bleep*** wide open on national television, you ***bleep***?! Because I swear I'll ***bleep***-ing do it right here and now!"

The altercation was cut abruptly to footage of a small old house in the neighborhood that was crushed, with the remains of it covered from top to bottom by the flesh and blood of the Hydra, while one of the beast's heads and its gigantic heart was sitting on the lawn. Then the image of an elderly Filipina woman named Wen-Dee Foster and her 80-year-old Japanese "boyfriend," Mr. Morimoto, appeared. Ciciley provided one last voiceover to depict the woman's story. "And then there is this 70-year-old immigrant whose family has lived in this old house for two centuries, before it was destroyed in the aftermath of last night's events. We asked Miss Foster and Mister Morimoto what they had to say of this disaster and this is how they responded…"

"Ghostbusters-ut-ot!" Wen-Dee furiously exclaimed, as the subtitles at the bottom of the screen translated her words: **"Ghostbusters suck!"**

Mr. Morimoto then added in his broken English, "Mothers slapped while babies!"

The broadcast returned to "present day," as Ciciley addressed the audience from the same spot where she began her report. "As you can see, all of Midtown Manhattan is much angered with the actions of the 'Superstars of the Supernatural' last evening. In fact, a representative of the Environmental Protection Agency who goes only by the name of 'Pete' is organizing an 'Anti-Ghostbusters Party' in hopes of shutting down their business once and for all. While this section of the city has been shut off from the rest by a massive plastic dome to clear out all of the hazardous waste from the creature, petitions are in the process of being gathered and sent to the mayor. We'll have more on the story in the coming days."

Lisa clicked "mute" on the remote control and focused her glare on Kimberly. With a laugh and a grin, Venkman told her, "It's just a phase they go through after we've saved the world – happens _every_ time we do. You weren't there when we blasted the hell outta Stay Puft. Marshmallow all over the buildings, streets, and everything else in harm's way. Some complained, while others just got out the chocolate and graham crackers."

"Yeah, but there's a _huge_ difference between tasty marshmallow and stinky monster flesh, Dr. V." Kuzco stated in a very sarcastic manner.

Kimberly noticed how Kuzco was taking out perfectly-toasted bread out of the old-fashioned toaster. She shook her head and told the young emperor, "There's also a huge difference between regular toasters and ones that have had slime poured into them." Venkman alerted him of that particular fact at the moment he took a bite out of his toast. Immediately, he spat it out over the sink, turning on the faucet and using the water to clean his tongue of the "filth." As he had done so, Kimberly added, "Some of the same slime might still be in the city's water system, too."

Kuzco then spat out the water he let run over his tongue. He turned and glared at Kimberly. "Youthse pepulh are sthick!" The disgusted emperor exited the kitchen in embarrassment and with his tongue sticking out of his mouth.

After the scene, Lisa shook her head at Kim and exclaimed, "You never take _anything_ seriously, do you?!"

"I take my breakfast seriously, and it's already been ruined by _three_ people today." Venkman remarked. "What're you doing here anyway, Lisa? I thought you and my J.G.B.'s were investigating that cauldron thingamajig in Tampa."

Lisa sat down across from her at the table. "The cauldron is the reason I'm here, Kim. That thing is way more than just an old artifact. You remember our studies of Prydain back in C.U.?" Venkman nodded weakly, seeming to be a little bored from the discussion. "Well, it's all true. King Taran, Queen Eilonwy, the tales of the Horned King…for centuries, the stories have been fact instead of fiction."

Kimberly chuckled. "Once again, another _Disney_ fable becomes reality. Of course it's all true, Leese. Ever since we started this business, it's _all_ been real – Hades, Maleficent, Jafar, Ursula…all the bad boys and girls we've ever faced as Ghostbusters have shown themselves to be the real deal."

"Yeah, but what if – this is a _huge_ 'what if' – what you and your team discovered last year in the Seventh Circle and this cauldron are connected with the strange happenings that have been going on within the Ghostbusters business? What if they're like some kind of key to something? This cauldron has extraordinary powers, Kim. Whoever gets a hold of the thing would be the most powerful being in both this world and the next."

Lisa's theory sounded heavily intriguing to Kim, whom – for the first time since Lisa arrived – was sparked with interest by it. It did make a lot of sense, considering all that she had been through over the past years. But as much as she wanted to put more thought into it all, the hangover she was feeling that morning prevented her from doing so. Weakly, she told Lisa, "Sounds deep, Leese. But you're preaching to the wrong choir."

Abney nodded and sighed, understanding the fact that she _was_ talking to the wrong person about her theory. "I did try to tell Jay and Sean, but they were already heading out of the firehouse with Diana Zeddemore and Alexis Embers before I could've…"

"Wait!" Venkman abruptly exclaimed with surprise registered on her pale face. "Did you say that Alexis went with them, too?!"

Lisa nodded in affirmation. "Yeah, I was surprised myself, seeing how sickly she was the other night. But she looked like a totally different person this morning. She was even talking about some good news Jay's been talking with her about. You have any idea what it is?"

Kimberly shook her head in response, just as Christina walked into the room with a small notebook in her hand, filled with important written details. "Dr. Venkman, Dye just called a sec ago. She says to get off your butt and come down to the museum _pronto_. They've found something 'big' over there."

Venkman groaned at this. "Ugh! I gotta hangover, woman!"

"Don't you snap at me, girl! _She_ was the one who said it, not me! Must be outta your damn mind, snappin' at me like…" Christina ranted as she walked out of the room, her angry voice resonating throughout the entire firehouse.

Kimberly glanced over at Lisa, who was trying to refrain from laughing. "It's true…good help _is_ hard to find these days."

Lisa finally let out a chuckle, albeit a very brief one. As soon as she calmed down, she asked Kim, "Should I wake up Meagan? I know she'd want in on this, being her first day as a _real_ Ghostbuster."

Venkman grinned at her old college friend and answered, "Why don't _you_ join me in on the fun? I saw how you handled that Hydra incident last night like a real pro."

Abney laughed with a hint of nervousness. "Seriously?! I'm not sure if you noticed before that thing exploded and unleashed that funky smell all over Midtown, but I might or might not have whizzed on myself at the moment I saw that thing!"

"I've heard worse things happen to petrified people."

"But Meagan…"

"…is having the first hangover in her young life and has the god-given right to enjoy it. Hell, the closest I'd ever gotten to something like that at her age was being high off the paint fumes from Weaver Hall's first opening!"

Lisa raised a curious eyebrow. "We always wondered why you went streaking that night on campus."

"Ahh…good times!"


	6. Chapter 6: Through All Familiar Places

**Chapter Six: Through All Familiar Places**

_Whenever I step outside_

_Somebody claims to see the light_

_It seems to me that all of us have lost our patience_

'_Cause everyone thinks they're right_

_And nobody thinks that there just might_

_Be more than one road to our final destination_

_But I'm not ever going to know_

_If I'm right or wrong_

'_Cause we're all going in the same direction._

_And I'm not sure which way to go_

_Because all along we've been going in the same direction!_

Alexis hummed energetically along with the song by her favorite band, Hoobastank, as it played loudly on her iPod. She tapped the tip of her right boot on the hollow marbled floor and nodded her head gently, while taking some scans with her own P.K.E. meter over one of the ancient Chinese war armors on display in the "Ancient China" exhibit in the Museum of National History. Because she was so into the groove, she barely paid much mind to the readings coming up on meter's digital monitor and was mostly just moving the device up and down against the front of the display. There was also the matter in some news that her fiancée, J.G. Stantz, had waiting for her after investigating the museum. That excited her more than everything else happening that day, including her improving health.

After a few lyrics, she felt something or someone tapping her right shoulder. She leaped, a bit startled by the sudden touch, and turned to see J.G. smiling at her. Removing the earphones connected to her iPod, she listened to what her fiancée had to say. His smile not once departing his face, he asked her, "Did you find anything other major readings in the area?"

It was at that moment when she realized that she had not been lacking full attention on the device in her hands. Sheepishly, she answered, "I…uh…Well, you see, I was just moving side-to-side and…er…"

J.G. chuckled. "It's all good, baby. I think Spengler found plenty over at that display." He gestured to the center of the room, where Sean Spengler and Diana Zeddemore were standing around the display of a sword with a blade that had zigzag-shaped edges, kept sitting on a golden rack with a light shining over it from above.

"I'm really sorry, man." Alexis said. "But what can you expect after driving me batty with this 'surprise' you're gonna lay out on me soon? C'mon, Jay! Tell me what it is!"

He could practically see the excitement registered on her face, her wonderful sparkling blue eyes pleading to his set of brown. Still, he shook his head, smiled, and told her, "Not until _after_ the investigation." On this answer, Alexis moaned and rolled those blue eyes in aggravation. "Trust me. It'll be worth the wait."

Alexis grinned. "It'd better be." Once she turned his back to him, he grinned as he held his P.K.E. meter close to her backside and allowed the antennae on the device to pop up and grope that area of her body on purpose. Again, Alexis jumped – only that time she let out a short, small gasp, nearly dropping her P.K.E. meter. Quickly, she turned and playfully slapped J.G. across the arm, trying to keep herself from smiling. "I told you _never_ to do that!"

"Hey, that's just one of the things I love about having a half-dead girlfriend." Stantz uttered, moving his P.K.E. all around her backside. "Seems like _a lot_ of energy is brewing around th…"

She pushed his hand and the device away and gestured to Zeddemore and Spengler. "Will you just go back to Dye and Spengs, before I check to see how much energy _your_ butt's carrying with my foot?"

J.G. walked away laughing, while Alexis just shook her head, wondering to herself if he had been spending too much time with either Venkman or Spengler, acting the way he had been around her. Of course, she did not mind it one bit. Every time she was with him, she felt like she was on Cloud Nine. He was all that ever kept her mind off of the bizarre things that surrounded her condition, especially the discovery of being "Caretaker of the Underworld" in the previous year. To that very day, the others still questioned what it had meant. But she did not have the courage to tell them of what she had discovered months ago of it.

Stantz approached Spengler and Zeddemore, as they stood by the displayed Chinese artifact, which Spengler continued to scan with his P.K.E. "So what exactly do we have here? A cursed piece of ancient history?" J.G. inquired.

Sean shook his head and answered, "No, it's more than that." He indicated to the digital monitor on his meter and added, "I'm reading massive waves of energy from this object. The readings are just the same as they were during our visit to the Seventh Circle of Hell last year."

"You sayin' that this thing came straight from the Circle?" Diana exclaimed in total surprise.

"That is exactly what I'm saying." Spengler clarified.

J.G. just scratched his head over the notion. "But how is that possible? I mean, how could the curator have access to such an otherworldly item?" His eyes then widened and he began to deduce, "Unless…"

However, Diana was quick to interrupt him, as she stated in a monotonous manner. "No, Jay. The curator is not an agent of the Seventh Circle in human disguise."

Stantz simply shrugged and uttered, "Well, that's all I've got."

Spengler glanced closely at the item, its majestic glow bouncing off his glasses. "You might be _half_ correct on your assumption, Jay."

"You mean the curator _is_ an agent of the Seventh Circle?" Diana remarked in astonishment and confusion.

"No, no. I mean that someone must've arrived here from the Circle themselves, bringing this item with them. They lost it upon their arrival, and it ended up at the hands of the museum officials." Spengler confidently deduced. "It's the only feasible explanation for its presence in this dimension."

"That would _still_ be impossible, Spengs." J.G. contradicted. "The only access point between our world and theirs has been destroyed, remember? That demon, Allha, told us herself."

Diana flashed back to the aftermath of last year's adventure and remembered one crucial detail. "Yeah, but she also said that one remaining enforcer made it through." She gestured to the sword and added, "And how much you wanna bet this thing belongs to that particular dude?"

The three Ghostbusters continued to stare and ponder over the displayed artifact. However, they did not realize that they were being observed by two figures – both with birds perched on upper sections of their bodies – through one of the three skylights above. One of the observers was none other than Jafar, an Arabian sorcerer whose immortality made him a living relic of a legendary city named Agrabah, along with his talking pet parrot named Iago. Accompanying him was the tall, dark, and hooded figure of Shan Yu with his trustworthy Saker Falcon, Hayabusa, perched upon his right forearm. The long-dead Hun warrior and enforcer of the Seventh Circle glared at the three sub-creatures standing within the exhibit of the museum.

Iago moaned at the sight of the Ghostbusters in the museum. "Oh! This is just terrific! What're the odds of us runnin' into these jokers at the same place we were almost four years ago?"

"Fret none over these feeble mortals, Iago." Jafar stated in a scoffing tone. "We have a much more powerful ally amongst us now than before! Isn't that right, Mighty Shan Yu?"

The sorcerer patted the Hun warrior on the shoulder, and the dark, hooded figure responded negatively to the touch, his yellow eyes peeping from beneath his hood and glaring at Jafar and his hand. Immediately, the petrified Jafar removed his hand from Shan Yu's shoulder and smiled sheepishly. Ignoring the awkward moment between them, Shan Yu uttered in a darkly tone of voice, "These…Ghostbusters…they are the reason I am stranded in this poor excuse of a realm…" He then stared at his skeletal left hand and furiously added, "…forced to walk in the shadows…as a freak!"

Neither Jafar nor Iago were certain how to respond over that depressing statement. But Iago, however, did try his best. "Shadows are cozy. They give lots of shades from the sun on a hot day…"

Jafar, seeing how much more distraught Shan Yu was, whispered to his pet parrot, "Iago."

Unfortunately, the bird kept himself going. "…nobody knows you're even there…"

"Iago!"

"…and you can even publicly use the bathroom in th—"

"ENOUGH!" Shan Yu's voice carried like a thunderclap as he shouted to the parrot, who instantly fell silent on his command. "You two feeble-minded pawns would be useless to me, if you had not lived on this pathetic world longer than I have!" The Hun warrior then added in a calmer voice, "But for helping me discover the whereabouts of my sword, you have fulfilled your purpose to my mission."

Jafar and Iago let out a sigh of relief, almost fearing the Hun would certainly annihilate them. Graciously, Jafar told him, "Well, we are eternally in your…"

Of course, Shan Yu was not in the mood for the sorcerer's grateful attitude, having much more focus on his main objective. "Now all that remains is for me to enter this building and take back what's rightfully mine."

"But the building is crawling with security guards." Jafar notified. "It would be impossible to enter without being spotted by one of them."

Shan Yu glared at the sorcerer, not making any sort of reply to his assumption. All he had done was lift his right arm up high with Hayabusa still perched upon it. Once he felt the falcon was high enough, he uttered a command in Chinese that immediately made Hayabusa let out a long, intense screech. It did not appear to both the ears of Shan Yu or Jafar; but Iago, however, was driven crazy by the noise. The parrot flailed around on Jafar's shoulder until the point he dropped from it and fell to the ground, yelling and flailing in pain.

Jafar simply stared at the bird in confusion. "Iago, what _are_ you doing?"

Before Jafar could have gotten any sort of answer from the parrot, he realized that Hayabusa ceased his screeching. Another unusual sound soon replaced it, and that was the sound of thousands of birds flapping in the air. The sorcerer looked upward and spotted several different types flying toward their location. Some of them soon began to descend, soaring directly to the front entrance of the museum.

The entire display amused Jafar, once it dawned upon him what Shan Yu had his falcon do. It was even more of a surprise to see Iago join the massive flock of birds, as they all busted through the front entrance and every single window of the museum, including the skylights. Inside the building, everyone from the guards to the tourists went into panic over the sudden appearance of the winged creatures' crazed arrival. Most of everyone was already heading for the exit, while others had to be guided by many of the security guards guarding various areas.

When the Ghostbusters became aware of the chaos, they were quickly forced to abandon their investigation in the Ancient China exhibit and exit the building along with everyone else. However, on the way out, Alexis became separated from her friends when she was pushed away from their side. She tried to call out for J.G.; but between all of the flapping birds and screaming innocents, he barely even heard her. That task proved to be more difficult once she was accidentally shoved into a utility closet, left open by the janitor, who got out of the museum himself ahead of time.

Shan Yu waited until every living soul within the museum departed when he gave another Chinese command to Hayabusa. The falcon screeched once again and, right on cue, all of the birds flapping inside immediately left the museum. Each of them returned to the skies and continued flying their regular course, acting as if nothing ever happened. Even Iago returned to his place on the shoulder of Jafar and seemed to have been completely oblivious to all that just occurred.

"Whoa, boy! Where the heck did this headache come from?" Iago exclaimed. "So when are we gonna do this thing? 'Cause I could really use a nap right now!"

Jafar just laughed over the parrot's obliviousness and excellent way in which Shan Yu's plan was executed. The Hun warrior carried on with his duties, taking a coil of rope, tying one end around one of the many chimney pots on the rooftop, and dropping the other end down through one of the smashed skylights above the Ancient China exhibit. The rope dangled exactly where he wanted it to be – right beside where his sword was displayed. He slid down the rope with much grace with Jafar soon following. Once the two men and their birds were inside, they crowded around the display, the glow of Shan Yu's sword glistening upon their faces.

Shan Yu easily removed the sword from the rack and grasped its hilt in his skeletal hand, holding it up high. "At last! I am complete!"

Jafar mocked applause for the Hun warrior's successful mission. "Ah! How splendid this must be for you. But I do believe there was an agreement we had in exchange for my assisting you in this 'war' you spoke of."

The yellow eyes of Shan Yu literally flashed with intensity beneath his hood. "Agreement?"

Unsettled over the time in which his owner was approaching the matter, Iago whispered to him, "Uh, Jafar…I don't think now's the time to…" But the parrot's beak was suddenly closed shut by Jafar's hand, preventing him from giving any sort of advice.

"Yes," the sorcerer boldly said to the Hun warrior, "We agreed that in exchange for my assistance, you would see to it that Lord Chernabog would grant me immense power, so that I can rule this world once and for all."

Shan Yu turned to Jafar, who could make out a grin underneath his hood. "Immortality isn't enough of a prize for you, eh?"

Jafar frowned. "You think I _enjoy_ watching time pass on this godforsaken earth, not having to age for centuries while carrying the memory of an accursed street rat kill me, then having my body and soul brought back to life for eternity by someone who used to be the most powerful figure of the Underworld and now lies in a hospital bed in a near-comatose state? You call _that_ a _prize_?"

Out of all Jafar had ranted over, only one thing stuck out to Shan Yu. "Did you say that Lord Hades brought you back from the dead and turned you immortal?"

"YES! Have your ears dissolved just as the flesh on your hand had?"

_SLIUGSH!_

Jafar barely even saw or felt the zigzag-shaped blade of Shan Yu's sword go right through his body when it did. Even as he looked down and noticed it there, buried deep within his bleeding torso, he barely felt any pain at all. He heard Iago gasp at the moment it came in contact with his body. Hardly any sound came out of his mouth; only a shocked facial expression spoke for him.

Shan Yu's "face" came closer to Jafar's, and for the first time since he met him, Jafar could see the detail on the face of the Hun warrior. It was a gruesome mixture of flesh and bone – more of the latter than the former. Judging from the absence of lips, it was a mystery to the sorcerer how Shan Yu could even speak as properly as he could, especially when he said to Jafar, "In case you haven't guessed by now…I despise _any_ garbage the Underworld throws up!"

As soon after Shan Yu uttered those words, something incredibly bizarre occurred. Jafar's body began to twitch violently, forcing Iago to leave his shoulder and flee from the scene. Then started to glow in a purple hue with smoke seeping out from every pore of his skin, as well as out from beneath his clothes. He continued glow brighter and brighter until not a single detail of him could be detected by the naked eye. Finally, once the glow dispersed, there was nothing left of him but a collection of clothes – _his _clothes – dangling at the blade of Shan Yu's sword.

Tearing the remnants of the vanquished sorcerer from his sword, Shan Yu cackled to himself. "Immortality…a foolish prize for a true fool."


	7. Chapter 7: Till Death Do Us Part

**Chapter Seven: Till Death Do Us Part**

With the evacuating of all the museum attendants and attendees leaving a large crowd gathered right in front of the building, more people gathered from bystanders to police officers, all wondering what happened in the museum. Even J.G. Stantz, Diana Zeddemore, and Sean Spengler were standing amongst the crowd of people, pondering over the exact same thing. It was the weirdest occurrence ever – and in their line of work, that was saying quite a bit. Spengler already had his P.K.E. meter in hand, scanning portions of the building's exterior for signs of activity. He only got as far as the entrance before he heard a familiar voice.

"Is this the grand re-opening or something?"

It was Kimberly, who arrived at the scene with Lisa.

"More like an evacuation." J.G. told her. "This weird scene straight out of _The Birds_ happened just a few minutes ago."

"You mean someone had a freak-out moment worse than Veronica Cartwright?" Venkman joked.

Of course, Diana wasn't laughing. "This is serious, Kim. Something made a massive flock of birds go crazy and, in the process, also made all of these people go crazy as well."

After getting no readings from the museum entrance, Spengler returned to the group and informed, "Nothing. No trace of _any_ energy on the building."

"Well, there had to be _some_ sort of paranormal cause to it." Stantz assumed. "What else would make these birds lose control?"

Lisa pondered J.G.'s speculation. "Well, most _do_ believe strange avian behavior such as that _is_ the sign of an apocalypse."

Sean smiled at his former colleague's hypothesis. "Haven't lost your touch, have you?"

Abney smiled right back at him. "You know I'm always on my toes."

The both of them locked eyes for what seemed like an eternity. But then Lisa's eyes were directed upward, when a single airborne figure passed right by her field of view. As soon as she realized that the bird was flying closer to ground-level, she alerted to her friends, "Looks like we've got a straggler."

Everyone else soon noticed the lone bird's arrival and, even though it was just one bird, went into a state of panic. The Ghostbusters remained calm, not really seeing the avian as too much of a threat. That wasn't until Diana got a closer look and instantly recognized it. "It's Iago!"

Venkman's eyes widened with surprise. "Jafar's little parrot? I thought they were locked away together at Rikers."

"Well, the bird just flew the coop!" J.G. exclaimed, as he, Diana, Kimberly, and Sean detached their particle throwers from their packs and aimed them directly at Iago, just as he landed on the steps of the museum.

Seeing the dangerous weapons pointed at him, Iago raised his wings high above his head and declared in panic, "Whoa, whoa! I come in peace!"

"Highly unlikely." Spengler uttered.

"What's Jafar's game this time, Iago?" Stantz inquired. "Was he the one responsible for all of those birds attacking this museum?"

Iago fought through fear to answer the question. "In a way, yes! But it was more of a job done by Shan Yu!"

J.G. and Sean reacted in surprise upon hearing that name.

Kimberly, on the other hand, had never heard it before in her whole life, which was clearly evident from her misinterpretation of the name. "Jafar's working with a guy named 'Sham Wow'?"

"Makes sense, seeing that he _was_ in prison." Diana added.

"His name is _Shan Yu_ – the leader of an ancient Chinese army of assassins referred as the Huns." Sean explained. "I knew the sword we were investigating earlier looked familiar. It was _his_ sword!"

"But Shan Yu has been dead for over a thousand years." J.G. indicated.

"That clearly didn't stop him from creating such a chaotic scene like this." Kimberly remarked.

"Or killing Jafar, for that matter." Iago said to which the Ghostbusters stared at him in total shock, their particle throwers lowered away from the bird.

Diana was the first to voice her surprise and ask Iago, "Jafar's…dead?"

"How's that possible? I thought he was immortal?" J.G. asked.

"He only claimed to be, Jay." Diana reminded him. "Lord knows that he had some serious delusions of grandeur."

"Hey! The point is that we've got a crazed zombie with a sharp sword running around, and you people are just the ones to stop him, capiche?" Iago desperately told them.

As much as they found it hard to trust in anything that Iago was telling them, the Ghostbusters had to get to the bottom of what was happening in the museum. Gripping their Proton Guns tight in their gloved hands, they began making their way back into the building. Before going any further, Sean turned to Lisa and instructed, "Best if you stay out here, just so in case something happens in there."

Lisa nodded while giving a thumb up gesture. "Gotcha!"

Even Kimberly stopped for a moment and added to Lisa's instructions while pointing sternly towards Iago, "And be sure to keep an eye on _him_, until we confirm this little story of his."

Iago rolled his eyes in aggravation. "I'm tellin' ya, it's the…"

_AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_

The bloodcurdling scream came from within the museum, and it sounded very feminine. Its register also sounded very familiar to J.G., as he suddenly looked amongst the group and realized that Alexis was not accompanying them, which could have only meant that she was still inside…_with_ Shan Yu! Alarmed by the revelation, he double-timed it into the museum, moving way ahead Diana, Kimberly, and Sean. The others eventually had done just the same, bolting through the revolving door just as hastily as Stantz did. It had only taken them seconds later to realize the same thing J.G. did, once they saw how Alexis was absent at that time.

Upon entering the museum, the first thing they realized was how ransacked every portion of the interior looked. Exhibits were left shredded and broken to pieces that were scattered all over the floors, glass was everywhere, pillars and statues were crumbled, the walls and ceiling were scorched, and traces of blood were everywhere. Clearly this was not from the avian attack that occurred moments ago. It was from a fierce battle that seemed to have gotten past them while they were standing outside the museum.

The sight only worried J.G. more, as he thought of Alexis being somewhere within it all. Taking leadership position (one that he knew Kim took more pleasure in taking), he told the group, "Everybody look around and use your P.K.E.'s to pick up on her signature! She's got to be here somewhere!" And on that command, the Ghostbusters split up individually – Stantz and Zeddemore stayed downstairs while Spengler and Venkman went upstairs.

Kimberly and Sean headed into a Greek Mythology exhibit, which appeared in worse condition than the rest of the museum. A statue of the almighty Olympian god known as Zeus, who was also the father of the legendary hero named Hercules, was heavily defaced. Most of the damage to it almost looked to be on purpose to Venkman and Spengler as opposed to being an "accident" from the battle that occurred there. They didn't focus on it for too long with Spengler taking readings throughout the walls of the exhibit.

It wasn't until Sean reached one section of the wall that caused the P.K.E. meter to wail and beep madly, just as he held the device over it. Hearing the noise it made, Kim jested, "Did Lassie find Timmy in the well?"

Spengler glanced closely at the readings on the meter. Behind his horn-rimmed glasses, his eyes widened with amusement. "I don't believe…"

_SMASH!_

Out of nowhere, the wall exploded right before the two Ghostbusters, knocking them to their feet as they were showered by chunks of plaster. A cloud of dust poured into the room, just as a hooded, shadowy figure emerged towering over Kimberly and Sean. It stared right down at them with fierce yellow eyes while gripping a sword with a zigzag-shaped blade in its gloved hands. After a few seconds, it then dashed over them and started to leave the exhibit, moving at lightning-quick speed.

Coughing out some hints of dust, Kimberly exclaimed, "Who or what the hell was that? Was that Shalamar?"

Spengler moaned over both the pain he was feeling in his right side and Venkman flubbing on names again. "_Shan Yu_, Kim! And, yes, it was!"

Quickly, the both of them got back to their feet and dashed out of the Greek Mythology exhibit, catching up with the long-dead Hun warrior. However, once they were out, they soon realized that Shan Yu was nowhere to be seen. It appeared that he made a clean escape, leaving not a single trace behind. Not even Spengler's P.K.E. meter could pick up on the same readings it had before Shan Yu's _smashing_ entrance to help them follow after the Hun warrior.

"Oh, this guy is good." Kimberly uttered, right before the walkie-talkie that clung to the left side of her flight suit crackled.

Through the static, the voice of Diana Zeddemore came through, albeit sounding very depressed. "Kim…Sean…Somebody, come in."

Kimberly detached the device from the fabric of her uniform and held it close to her peach-colored lips, talking directly into it. "Dye, that damn stool pigeon wasn't lyin'! We just saw…"

"You two had…you'd better get down here right away." Diana requested. "We…We just found…Alexis."

Her voice did not sound positive whatsoever, leaving the both of them to wonder what if Alexis had taken on Shan Yu all by herself. Taking the walkie-talkie from Kimberly, Spengler asked Zeddemore, "Where are all of you?"

"We're near the 'Ancient China' exhibit." Diana answered.

With the location confirmed, Kimberly and Sean trekked downstairs to the first floor of the museum, which looked much worse than the other few floors of the museum. On their way to the "Ancient China" exhibit, they saw pieces of what used to be a Proton Pack all over the floor. It was undoubtedly the one that Alexis was wearing during her fight with Shan Yu. The devastated piece of equipment was enough of a hint as to who won that battle.

Coming upon the entrance to the "Ancient China" exhibit, Venkman and Spengler braced themselves for the worse. As soon as they entered, they were faced with something that was _much_ worse than they imagined – cradled in the arms of a weeping, trembling J.G. Stantz was the ravaged body of Alexis Embers. Her uniform was ripped to shreds, exposing torn flesh. Her hair, skin, lips, and eyes were all colored in a vanilla texture, giving her quite a disturbing, ghostly appearance. She was clearly on the verge of _total _death, but it was a state that neither of them had ever seen before.

Diana stood nearby with tears flowing down from her eyes, seeing the pain that J.G. was in. She tried to comfort him by putting a hand over his shoulder, which he harshly brushed off. He was unwilling to accept Alexis's obvious fate, believing there to be some shred of hope. Even as he cried over her dying body, he could see her eyes fighting to stay open.

"C'mon…C-Come on, baby! Stay with me, okay?"

Alexis let out a weak gasp for air, trying her best to talk through the pain.

"Ahhhh…I…I'm…s-sorry."

J.G. shook his head and told her, "No, no! You are _not_ going to leave me! 'Cause you know why?" He almost choked on his words as he uttered them softly to her. "Because we found a cure for you…we found out how to make you normal, Lexi! You can be free now!"

A weak smile emerged on Alexis's face as she reached up and touched J.G.'s, wiping away the tears that drenched his right cheek. In a very low voice, she told him, "I _am_ free."

He knew just exactly what she meant by that statement and immediately grabbed her hand, his nerves quickly overtaking him. More tears flowed out from his eyes as he pleaded to her, "Stay with me, baby! _Quédate conmigo!_"

Alexis fought long enough to look into his brown eyes one more time. And then, after just seconds, she fought no longer. Her vanilla-colored eyes shut, her body went limp, and her breathing ceased. Alexis Embers had died right in the arms of her fiancée, J.G. Stantz. All he was left to do was mourn, while his friends and colleagues watched on and had done the same.


	8. Chapter 8: Search for the Black Cauldron

**Chapter Eight: The Search for the Black Cauldron**

Clearwater, Florida – Two Weeks Later

For every rollerblader, surfer, jogger, and tourist that passed on the sidewalk between the road and Clearwater Beach daily, it was certainly a change of pace to see the Ecto-2K stream down the road, its white and shiny exterior glistening beneath the radiant sun. When it passed, the rollerbladers, surfers, joggers, and tourists stopped and stared upon it, amused and confused from the fact that the vehicle of the Ghostbusters was in that section of the Tampa Bay Area. Some even wondered if they were on a rare vacation. However, the truth of the matter was that the team was there for more business than pleasure.

Of course, that didn't stop Kimberly Venkman or her colleagues from wearing the appropriate attire to suit the high temperatures of the deep southern area. Wearing a tight, light blue tank top and cutoff jean shorts, Venkman sat in the front seat of the Ecto-2K with her legs hanging out of the passenger side window. At the wheel of the vehicle was Diana Zeddemore, wearing a black tank top and beige shorts and letting an open window be her source for cooling. As a matter of fact, _all_ of the windows in the Ecto-2K were open, including the ones at the rear where Sean Spengler, Meagan Tully, Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, Max, and P.J. were sitting. Each of them was fighting off the intense heat in various ways, from fanning themselves to sticking their upper bodies out the window.

"Damn! Can it get any hotter in this death trap of a town?" Kim complained.

Spengler, who had a cooling unit built into his P.K.E. Meter that blew air right into his face, turned to Kim and informed, "Actually, if it were to get any hotter, we could possibly…"

"Not that interested, Spengs!" Venkman hastily interrupted.

Diana would glance occasionally at the way Kimberly was dangling her legs out the window and get slightly distracted from it. "You know, Kim, it is illegal to have your bare feet out the window like that."

"Well, I doubt any patrol officer would dare himself to try and pull us over in this heat, Dye." Kimberly remarked, right before she pulled her legs back into the hot moving vehicle. "But if you're gonna make a big thing out of it…"

Sensing a dispute on the approach, Mickey immediately played peacemaker and inserted himself into the conversation. "Hey, c'mon, girls. We've gotta keep a cool head – literally and figuratively."

Kimberly sighed in despair. "You're right, Mick. It's that reason why we couldn't bring Jay with us. Poor guy is going through enough as it is right now, and he doesn't need this stress _or_ heat bearing down on him."

Meagan ignored the heat long enough to focus on the conversation in process. "Has it really been two whole weeks since Alexis died?" Silence had fallen over the Ecto-2K, which left Meagan feeling very guilty. "Oh…I'm sorry, everybody…I…I should've…"

"No, sweetie. You're okay." Diana said, glancing at Meagan through the rearview mirror. "It's just…still a harsh reality to take in, ya know?"

Tully nodded in understanding. "I only knew her for a year, ever since I started in the Junior Ghostbusters program. To be honest, I feel ashamed that I became Senior Ghostbuster before she did, and she'd been with you guys longer than I have."

Hearing that statement from Meagan, Kimberly immediately turned around and strictly told her, "Now, listen here, kiddo…if I _ever_ hear you say anything about being ashamed of being a Senior G.B. again, I will kick your butt from here to Cancun!" Everyone in the Ecto-2K was surprised from Venkman's sudden outburst, which they weren't certain was a result from the heat or not. "Alexis knew more than the rest of us that someone just as brave and bold as her would become Senior G.B. before her. In fact, it was _her_ that recommended you for the position!"

This news took Meagan by total surprise. She looked to Spengler and Zeddemore and asked, "Is that true?" Neither of the two Ghostbusters said a word, which left Meagan to figure on their silence being a "yes." "How come?"

"Meagan, being a Ghostbuster for nearly six years, there's one thing I've learned from working for this company and that's _never_ to question why I'm doing what I am today."

"As long as the paycheck's good – eh, Dye?" Kim jested.

Diana grinned at her remark. "Seriously, Meagan…if you want to honor Alexis's memory, carry your new position with great pride. She saw something in you that the rest of us probably didn't."

"I definitely didn't." Venkman uttered, before she was met with a dirty look from Zeddemore. "Well, I _didn't_!"

Meagan pondered a little deeper into this sudden revelation. "Does Dr. Stantz know this, too?"

"Who do you think Alexis talked into it?" Sean inquired, which only made Meagan twice as overwhelmed with her "new position," as Diana referred it as. Switching gears, Spengler refocused the group's attention on why they were in Florida in the first place. "Lisa told us to meet her at the old shack on the beach. We should be seeing it at any moment now."

Kimberly checked her hearing to make certain that she heard her colleague right. "An old shack? Why would we meet there of all places? Wouldn't it be nicer if we met at a five-star hotel?"

"Would _you_ take two hundred-pound black cauldron into a five-star hotel, Venkman?" Spengler asked.

Venkman sunk into her seat sheepishly and muttered, "No."

Diana's hazel eyes squinted as she gazed through the windshield and noticed a rusted, decades-old shack in the middle of Clearwater Beach. She smiled upon seeing it and alerted the others. "There it is."

They looked ahead and spotted the shack as well, some of them surprised that it was still standing from the poor condition it looked to be in. The group continued staring at the pathetic shack while Diana parked the Ecto-2K to the right side of the road, across from the beach. Exiting out of the car, they did not bother taking their Proton Packs or other equipment with them, seeing no point in doing so since it was merely an investigation and not elimination. However, Spengler did take his P.K.E. Meter along with him for safe keeping.

As the team headed to the shack, they started to notice a sudden change in the weather. Whereas it was hot and sunny upon their arrival in Clearwater, it suddenly shifted to windy and cloudy, looking as if there would be a lightning storm on the approach. Meagan appeared to be the most befuddled one of the group, asking Spengler, "Is that normal?"

"No…we are walking right into a trap…the shack must be the center of some sort of ghostly energy that works as an alarm to alert all of the spirits of our presence." Spengler dryly jested, but Meagan appeared to have believed every word he said – mainly due to the dry delivery of his joke. Seeing how shocked she was, he told her, "Yes, it's normal. The tropical weather of Florida shifts at every few hours or so."

Somewhat relieved, Meagan continued with the group, as they walked through the sandy shore, kicking up sand while heading to the shack. Once they were at its front door, Diana knocked upon it, doing it ever so gently after seeing how fragile it looked. "Lisa, are you there?" There was no answer, which surprised all of them.

"Maybe we're supposed to use some kind of 'knock code'." Kimberly bantered. "Try 'Shave and a Haircut'."

"A-hyuck! I use that one every day." Goofy said.

Ignoring Venkman and Goofy, Diana simply grabbed for the doorknob, but before she could've turned it, the whole thing collapsed into the shack and landed on the floor with a loud _thud_. Taken by surprise of what just happened, Diana stared down at the collapsed door and uttered, "Maybe 'Shave and a Haircut' wasn't such a bad idea after all."

The team stepped inside to see how ransacked the shack appeared with tables and chairs turned sideways and upside down, papers shredded and scattered all around, and dents in the walls, ceiling, and floor. Of course, the most noticeable thing of all in this unwelcoming scene was the fact that both Lisa Abney and the black cauldron were missing. Spengler immediately began scanning certain areas of the room, which was the only thing he could've done to keep himself from worrying over Lisa's disappearance. The others practically felt as if they were walking right into a crime scene, being careful not to touch anything that might've been evidence.

"What happened here?" Max exclaimed.

"Someone showing how desperate they are to get a hold of Mrs. Abney and that cauldron, that's what happened." P.J. remarked.

"But who would want to steal a cauldron?" Donald inquired.

Just as Donald made that inquiry, Meagan passed by a section of the wall that had a huge, sharp, and heavy dagger pierced into it. She grabbed at its hilt and tried to remove it, but found great difficulty doing so. Soon Kimberly took notice of what she was doing. "Whatcha got there, kiddo?"

"Looks like a knife, but I can't get it out of the wall." Meagan indicated, while fighting with the object itself.

Kimberly analyzed the dagger, noting its ancient style. After Meagan tugged at it a few more times, Kim eventually brushed the young Ghostbuster aside and grabbed at the hilt herself. With one mighty tug, she yanked the dagger right out of the steel wall, much to Meagan's surprise. Not wanting to take all of the credit for getting it out, she told Tully, "You loosened it up some." Of course, she was lying – but she couldn't let Meagan know that. "Hey, Spengs. Get a scan of this knife Meagan found."

Sean walked over with the P.K.E. and scanned the item. The device beeped rapidly, indicating a large find. "High levels of psycho-kinetic energy…" He then added with a hint of scorn in his voice, "…similar to the levels we found in Shan Yu's sword."

The name became something of a curse to the group – every time it was uttered, it put a bad taste in the mouth of whomever it came from. Shan Yu was Alexis's murderer and still roamed the streets somewhere for reasons that were still unknown to the Ghostbusters. Of course, with the discovery of the dagger, some clues to the long-dead warrior's objective were starting to emerge. Meanwhile, Sean Spengler focused mostly on the possibility of Shan Yu having kidnapped Lisa.

"So Shan Yu is after the black cauldron?" Kimberly inquired.

Diana got a closer examination of the dagger and noticed one important detail about it. "Maybe not," she uttered. "I'm not just showing off my historiography doctorate here, but this knife looks more European than it does Chinese – possibly high or late Middle Ages."

Mickey snapped his fingers in realization. "Of course!"

"What is it?" Meagan asked the mouse.

"The cauldron belongs to the Horned King – he must've been the one who came here to get it!" Mickey revealed.

"But the dude was destroyed through being disintegrated by the thing." Venkman indicated. "Even if he still physically existed as a spirit, it'd be impossible for him to come back _now_ and take back what's his."

Max pondered for a second and then made an educated guess. "Maybe it was another half-dead Viking guy 'born' from the cauldron who did all of this. It happened before when we found the thing."

"Where _did_ you guys find it anyway?" Diana asked.

"Just off the Atlantic Coast, south of the state." Mickey answered.

"I'm willing to take a bet that's where our little pot is being carried off to." Kimberly presumed. "Spengs, see if you can get Creel on the phone and get us access to their Ecto-8."

Spengler immediately went to doing as Venkman suggested, pulling out his _Droid_ phone and speed-dialing the number to Patrick Creel of the Ghostbusters unit in Tampa, Florida. While doing so, Donald looked all throughout the messy floor, seeing if there were any other clues to be found there in the ransacked shack. It was then that he came across something that stood out more than the rest of the papers and other materials on the floor – a brochure for a cruise line known as the "S.S. Tipton" (as in "The Tipton Hotel"). Donald scratched his head, puzzled of the reason why Lisa would carry around a brochure for a cruise line.

After listening to a few rings and Patrick Creel's voice off of an answering machine recording, Sean hung up his phone in a defeatist attitude and told the others, "I can't reach him. They must be on a bust."

"Well, we can't wait for them." Diana stated. "Every second we spend contemplating our plan, that cauldron gets further from us and Lisa is more in danger."

Donald gazed at the brochure in his feathery grip and smiled. He showed it to the others and joyously exclaimed, "How 'bout this?"

Goofy took the brochure from the duck. "Tha S.S. Tipton? But dey're not gonna just let us use tha boat just ta find a pot, Donald."

Kimberly glanced at the brochure in Goofy's white-gloved hands, both memories and an idea popping through her head. She smiled and winked as she stated, "They will…once they see us in uniform."


	9. Chapter 9: Welcome to the Caribbean

**Chapter Nine: Welcome to the Caribbean**

"Is he still in there?"

"Sounds like he is."

"Well…what do we do?"

"I don't know, but we gotta get him out before Mr. Moseby sees him."

Four boys stood in one of the corridors outside the students' cabin area of the S.S. Tipton. Their names – Zack and Cody Martin, Woody Fink, and Marcus Little. Each of them were members of a special Junior Ghostbusters unit established by Dr. Kimberly Venkman on the S.S. Tipton, in favor of all the excellent service the Tipton Hotel had received from the Ghostbusters in New York City. Zack and Cody, having already spent a whole year in the program, were on the verge of promotion, whereas Woody and Marcus still had another few months to go.

Of course, there was a possible chance for "extra credit" with a strange pirate ghost hanging around the cruise ship recently. They kept a close eye on him while doing their best to keep his presence a secret from Mr. Moseby, who would surely attempt to scare him off before he becomes scared of _him_. Currently, they had him trapped inside of Cody and Woody's cabin, from where he seemed to be only singing in some type of drunken slur. Although it was difficult to tell through the cabin door outside, but from what the boys could make out, the lyrics of the song sounded something like: "Yo-ho, yo-ho! A pirate's life for me!"

After listening to a few more lyrics, the boys were suddenly directed away from the music, just as Bailey Pickett and London Tipton – two other members of the S.S. Tipton's Junior Ghostbusters unit – showed up behind them. "Guys, guys! Mr. Moseby's on his way here!" Bailey warned.

"Yeah, and he's got a look on his face that goes like this." London added, just as she squint her eyes, frowned deeply, and scrunched up her entire face real tight.

Seeing the look she was mimicking, Zack asked, "Is that his angry look or really focused look?"

"It was tough to tell, but seeing that he just found out that punchbowl filled with rum punch was spilled all over the carpet in the banquet room, I don't think he's all too happy now." London stated, only making the others more and more nervous.

"Oh, man! What're we gonna do?" Woody anxiously inquired.

Before any suggestions could have been made…

"ZACK! CODY!"

Each of their backs was immediately to the wall at the angry sound of Marion Moseby's voice, which sounded very, very close nearby. Almost on the verge of crying, Cody asked no one in particular, "Why is it always _us_ that have to be in so much trouble?!"

"Because it's _us_, Cody." Zack reminded him.

Within seconds, Mr. Moseby arrived in the same corridor that the kids were standing in, noticing them line up perfectly with their backs against the wall. The look on his face was exactly the way London depicted it – eyes squinted, deep frown, and a tight, scrunched-up face. "I just happened to be following a trail of punch stains and you know exactly _where_ they led me?"

No one wanted to answer, except for London, who eagerly responded, "To the wonderful land of Oz?" On that response, everyone looked to her with dumbfounded expressions. "Well, if you hum a few bars, maybe I could get a clue."

Moseby, getting over London's ignorance quickly, refocused back on what he was saying. "No…it just happened to have led me _here_, outside the cabin of two of my most despised guests!"

Woody appeared very surprised from Moseby's words. "I'm despised…Cool!"

"No, _not_ 'cool', because now I'll have to elicit _extreme_ punishment on not just you two, but the rest of you for ruining a heavily important party for distinguishable guests only! Do you children have _any_ idea how much you have…?!"

Moseby stopped as soon as he noticed the door to the cabin open up and the head of a man with brown dreadlocked hair and a goatee in two braids, wearing a red bandanna and numerous objects in his hair, peeking out through the cabin door and directing his attention to Moseby. "Excuse me, mate. Would ye mind keepin' it down a smidgeon? This rum isn't doin' many favors to me head." The man spoke with an English accent with several noticeable gold teeth in his mouth. From what Mr. Moseby could briefly make of him before he stuck his head back inside the cabin and closed the door, he looked as if he could have been a pirate.

A blank stare came upon Moseby's face as he asked the children, "Who the heck was _that_ guy?"

"What guy?" Cody uttered, acting totally dumb (something he was not often used to doing, considering his vast intelligence).

And since it was Cody that was doing the acting, Mr. Moseby ignored his ignorance and brush past the children to enter the cabin. Once he did, he was suddenly met with a horrendously foul odor within the room, which smelled like a toss between what the boys' cabin normally smelled – especially with Woody as its occupant – and something that could only come from a bum off the streets. The Junior Ghostbusters sensed it as well upon entering themselves with Bailey and London covering their noses to preserve their sensitive noses from the odor. In the midst of it all, taking sips of a bowl of rum punch from a ladle and singing an odd pirate song.

"_Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me! We're rascals, scoundrels, villains, and knaves…Drink up me 'earties, yo ho! We're devils and black sheep, really bad eggs…Drink up me 'earties, yo ho! Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!_"

The pirate was completely in a drunken state, consuming large portions of the rum punch – the very same punch that was in the banquet room of the S.S. Tipton. It was a sight – and smell – that Mr. Moseby could tolerate no longer, and he confronted the pirate head on. "I do not know _how_ you got in here, but you will leave _immediately_ or else I'll…"

"This is some _really_ heavy rum, mate!" The pirate interrupted, walking over to Moseby with a ladle full of rum punch and putting his arm around the frustrated manager. Moseby could practically detect the foulness seeping from the pirate's open armpit. "My compliments to its maker." With that said, he took another sip from the ladle, slurping up the red liquid carried in it.

Observing the actions of the odd ghostly pirate, Zack and Cody were impressed of how real it appeared to be, making physical contact with Moseby and carrying odors that no ghost (unless they counted Slimer) should have. The boys truly wished Drs. Venkman, Stantz, and Spengler could have been there to witness such an intriguing spirit. Braving himself to go near the smelly pirate, Cody walked up and asked, "Excuse me, sir, but you wouldn't happen to tell us your name, would you?"

The pirate moved his arm away from Moseby, who gasped as soon as he did, and turn his attention to Cody. "Of course, matey. Name be _Captain_ Jack Sparrow." Jack extended his hand out to Cody, and the Junior Ghostbuster was a bit hesitant at first to shake it before finally succumbing to do so. The captain had a mighty grip for a long-dead spirit, and Cody could practically feel his fingers getting numb from the brief handshake they share. "That is _captain_ of the mighty ship know to many as 'The Black Pearl'. Have ye heard of it?"

"Does it actually carry black pearls?!" London excitedly asked.

Jack seemed a little loss upon answering. "Not to my knowledge, it doesn't? Why? Have you heard anything?"

Before anyone could answer what they could only guess was a rhetorical question from Captain Sparrow, Mr. Moseby interjected himself into the conversation and said, "Alright! This is quite enough! This man is a stowaway and a _complete_ lunatic! We raise anchor in seven minutes and he is going off the ship this very moment!"

"But, Mr. Moseby, you can't throw him off the ship." Woody declared.

"Oh! And why not?"

Zack stammered a quick reply. "B-Because h-he's a…"

However, just as Zack attempted to finish his statement with the word "ghost," the group suddenly heard a loud roar of applause from outside. Red and blue lights flashed through the porthole inside the cabin. A heavily curious Moseby went to the porthole and gazed through it, the first thing he saw being the familiar sight of the Ecto-2K – the vehicle of the Ghostbusters – parked at the seaport with several passengers of the S.S. Tipton greeting them with smiles, handshakes, hugs, and autograph books. The sight of their sudden appearance drove Moseby batty, as he grumbled to himself and stormed right out of the room, completely forgetting about Jack Sparrow.

Watching him leave in such an angry way, Sparrow and the Junior Ghostbusters seemed very perplexed. Marcus even asked out loud, "What's gotten into him?"

"Must've gotten to the rum before I did." Sparrow presumed.

* * *

After a few minutes of hugging fans, shaking hands, and signing autographs, the Ghostbusters reached the sky deck of the S.S. Tipton, along with all of the guests. The sight of the cruise ship impressed all of them. It was long, big, and gleaming with the millions of dollars that Mr. Tipton endorsed in putting it all together. The Ghostbusters certainly felt like they were stepping back into the fancy Tipton Hotel back in New York City while walking across the sky deck and passing through several other guests who marveled at their presence.

"Aw, man! Ghostbusters!" One particular young male guest exclaimed, approaching the group with three other young men – all of whom looked to be members of a popular band. "We had no clue you'd be here. We're your biggest fans. Did you catch our video on YouTube?"

Kim, Sean, Diana, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy all stared at the young men awkwardly, totally confused of who they were and what they were talking about. "Uh…I don't watch much _MTV_…who are you fellas again?" Venkman inquired.

Max, P.J., and Meagan, on the other hand, looked to be very ecstatic by the appearance of these young men. "Dr. Venkman, this is the band Hoobastank!" Meagan giddily exclaimed.

"Who-the-what-a-stank?" Diana uttered in bewilderment.

"This is Doug Robb, Dan Estrin, Chris Hesse, and Jesse Charland." Max introduced. "We met them one night at a club back in Manhattan and told them that we worked for you guys. They wrote a song especially for us."

"Yeah, we're performing in a little bit." Doug mentioned. "Maybe you guys will be here on deck when we're on stage and hear the song we made."

Just when Venkman was about to express her gratitude to the popular band, a familiar voice butted into the conversation and robbed her of the chance. "Ohhh, no, they won't!" All heads turned to see Mr. Moseby walk right in, hands frantically waving and a look registered on his face that was nothing but strict and serious. "The Ghostbusters are _not_ on the guest list for our cruise. Therefore, effective immediately, they will force off this deck or else they will face serious consequences."

Kimberly didn't seem all too intimidated by the manager's threats and rather took his sudden appearance more positively, as if they were old friends who were reunited. "Moseby, what up, bro! I haven't heard from you in quite some time, man!"

"Oh, don't you play 'jive' with me, Venkman." Moseby retorted. "Just because you and I have more history together than anyone else on this planet doesn't mean you can waltz right in and pretend as if you're a guest here. I've already had enough shenanigans from your 'junior cadets' or whatever you call them."

"It's not another shenanigan, Moseby." Spengler said. "We're here on serious business. We believe that somewhere out in the Atlantic Coast there is a mystic artifact taken by undead warriors."

Moseby stared at Spengler blankly. "Whatever you've been putting into your Kool-Aid, you'd better lower the dosage."

"Hey, like Spengs said, this is serious business, Moseby." Venkman stated.

"Well, what do you want _me_ to do? It's not like I could request the captain to steer this ship in any direction you want."

"Actually…that's exactly what we're askin' ya ta do." Goofy said.

"Well, I can't! Look, we are on a _very_ tight course here." Moseby indicated. "And if we stray off that course, we could wind up stranded out somewhere in the middle of nowhere!"

Kimberly scoffed. "I take it Mr. Tipton could afford everything _but_ a good G.P.S. system on this thing."

"C'mon, Mr. Moseby. It's the only way we'll be able to find the black cauldron we're looking for." Mickey begged.

"The Black Cauldron, you say?" The slurry voice spoke near the group and everyone turned to see Jack Sparrow present on the sky deck with Zack, Cody, Woody, Marcus, Bailey, and London standing behind him. "I've heard stories ye wouldn't believe of the Black Cauldron – and I don't just say that because I constantly make up stuff…which I've be told that I do every now and then."

Looking between the filthy pirate and the Ghostbusters, Moseby was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. "Okay, that's it! _All_ of you off the ship now!"

Ignoring Moseby, Kim pointed to Sparrow and asked her Junior Ghostbusters from the S.S. Tipton, "Who the hell is this?"

"His name's Jack Sparrow and he's the captain of a ship made of black pearls!" London excitedly answered.

Sparrow tried not to seem too annoyed as her corrected the young woman. "I think the lass meant to say is that I'm _Captain_ Jack Sparrow and my ship is called 'The Black Pearl'. Savvy?"

"He's a ghost pirate." Woody told Venkman.

Moseby glanced awkwardly at Woody upon hearing what he said. "Say what now?!"

"Well, well, Mose…how long have you been keepin' _this_ dirty little secret?" Kimberly asked with a grin.

"Whoa, whoa! Hold on! I didn't know _anything_ about this until now!" Moseby alleged. "And don't try and turn this into a ploy for you getting onto this ship, because I won't fall for your scheming tactics like the city of New York does daily. I already get that enough from _these_ two!" He then pointed to Zack and Cody, who tried to look innocent in front of their superiors.

"Might I make an imploration, mate." Sparrow told Moseby. "These ladies and gents with the weird fancy and shiny effects wish to find the Black Cauldron, something I know much about, while the music band with the unusual name are performing a song for the ladies and gents with the weird fancy and shiny effects. If you ask me, I would think leavin' us all on the ship will be in great servitude for everyone here. How would ye say to that?"

Moseby expressionlessly gawked at the pirate and said, "WHAT?!"

"Okay, how 'bout this then? Leave us all here on the ship and I won't blow it up with my ghostly powers." Sparrow threatened, and his threat seemed to have gotten through the manager of the S.S. Tipton, as he just stared at the dirty pirate in wide-eyed fear. "Well, now, glad that's all settled. Now if someone could redirect me to where that wonderful room filled with the rum punch is. All this negotiating has appeared to dry my throat again."

"You mean the banquet room? Dude, we're headed that way now." Doug told Jack.

Sparrow shook the band leader's hand gratefully and responded, "You are a prince among true alcoholics, mate. Lead the way." Jack and the band then departed from the sky deck, leaving Moseby standing perplexed over all that had just transpired before his very eyes.

Seeing how confused he was, Venkman smiled and whispered to her companions, "I can tell I'm _really_ gonna love havin' _Captain_ Sparrow around."


	10. Chapter 10: Some Body to Love

**Chapter Ten: Some Body to Love**

_"I don't understand. Why me? Why use me like that to help Maleficent get revenge on us?"_

_ And with an ominous, echoing voice, Ursula responded, "Because you are the _heart_ of the Ghostbusters! And what a better way of weakening your precious little band than striking the heart!"_

_ Ursula's plan seemed to have worked, as J.G. appeared to be heavily distraught by the fact that his one and only true girlfriend turned out to be another evil spirit. The other Ghostbusters noticed the despair upon his face while looking down at the ground. It was enough to make both Alexis and Kimberly seriously angry at Ursula for doing this to him._

_ "Now that's cold, Sea Bitch…even for _you_!" Kim exclaimed. "My boy, Jay, is an awesome guy who knows how to treat a girl right! If there's anybody who's lost something great from this, it's you!"_

_ Ursula bellowed with laughter. "Oh, really? How do you figure?"_

_ "Because love is a lot stronger than you can imagine." Alexis told her. "Dr. Stantz is a great man. I might not know him as well as these other guys do, but I know him well enough to admit this: If I had someone as special as him in my life, I'd cherish every moment of our time together rather than exploit it like you have!"_

_ These words caught J.G.'s attention just as immediately as Alexis said them. It reminded him of the great times he had with Vanessa, when he wasn't aware of it all being a ploy. And it lifted his spirits again knowing that it was all coming from such a wonderful human being like Alexis Embers, whom he only had the pleasure of knowing for a couple of days before seeing how great she was not only as a Ghostbuster, but as a friend._

* * *

It was the first time he ever experienced true love, and it happened at the same time he lost it with someone who never _truly_ loved him. That very night was when found newfound respect (and love) in a young woman who seemed nothing more than an inexperienced rookie when he first met her. And the event that came _after_ that particular moment increased such feelings toward Alexis once she sacrificed her humanity to enclose the portal between the real world and the ghost world, preventing Maleficent from doing much harm to the former. Alexis saved the world that night, after bringing J.G. and his team back together. Those memories seemed very distant, especially after what recently happened to Alexis.

Yet the memories continued to flow through Stantz's mind while lying down over his bed on the partially dim second floor bedroom of the firehouse and gazing upon the ceiling. The music of Hoobastank played on a digital radio nearby as he had done so. It was the most depressing one of all their songs, but it seemed very appropriate for him to listen to at the time…

_I'm sorry that I hurt you  
It's something I must live with everyday  
And all the pain I put you through  
I wish that I could take it all away  
And be the one who catches all your tears  
That's why I need you to hear_

_I've found a reason for me  
to change who I used to be  
A reason to start over new_

_And the reason is you_

The entire time he lied there and listened to the music, all while reminiscing on two years worth of memories, Christina stood in the doorway to the bedroom. It was a sight that just about brought her to tears, seeing a great friend mourning over another. She didn't have the heart to tell him about the call she had just received from the morgue about Alexis. Yet it was important that he knew what was going on anyway. Any news on Alexis – even after her passing – would be important to him.

Christina knocked on the door frame to get his attention. J.G. sat up immediately the moment he heard it, almost surprised to see her standing there. Raising her hands to calm him, she said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you."

Stantz shook his head. "You're not." The liveliness in his voice was completely gone. All that remained was a void of sadness and despair. It broke Christina's heart just to hear it. "I was just…um…thinking of what I might say at the fu…" He swallowed hard, unable to bring himself to utter the word. His mouth felt dry even upon saying the first syllable of it.

She didn't want to let him say it for his own sake. Instead she moved on quickly to the reason she was there in the room. "I just got a call from the hospital on Alexis, Jay." His eyes remained focused on her, only more heavily so with the mentioning of Alexis. "The diener says that her body somehow…disappeared."

On that last word, J.G. jumped off the bed, stood on his two feet, and stared at Christina in a mixture of confusion and anger. "What do you mean 'disappeared'?! Where is she?!"

"He doesn't know. He just said that…"

Christina barely had enough time to explain herself as J.G. stormed out of the bedroom, heading downstairs. She immediately followed him, wondering where he figured on going with the Ecto-2K taken by his colleagues all the way down to Florida. Of course, that didn't stop him from going over to Christina's desk on the first floor to pick up the phone and call for a taxicab. His mind certainly was stuck on what had become of Alexis Embers's body, seeing that he was wearing the same flight suit for nearly a whole week, had not showered in that same time frame, and unshaven. From Christina's perspective, he wasn't in the proper attire or under the proper hygiene to go out in public.

Of course, Christina wasn't going to tell him that. That job was much suited for someone more heartless – like Louise Peck. "Oh, dear god! This bloody place is starting to smell worse by the day!" She walked in from out of nowhere, drinking from a white coffee mug with the Ghostbusters insignia over it – the same one that Kimberly Venkman owned. "What're you blokes up to this evening?"

Christina just stared at her in aggravation, the tone in her voice oozing with something that was like pins in her eardrum. "Don't you have a life outside this firehouse? An apartment to live in? _Something_ to keep your butt occupied when you're _not_ workin'?!"

Louise just shrugged and answered, "Nope. Apparently not."

Melnitz rolled her eyes. As it seemed, Peck wasn't the only Junior Ghostbuster at the firehouse that night. Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher were currently in attendance as well, constructing new ghost-busting equipment in the unoccupied space in the garage to show Sean Spengler when he returned. Alex Russo was present also, watching _MTV_ off the flat-screen set nearby. All of the other J.G.B.'s had the night off – something they wished to have with the slow night of paranormal activity occurring.

After a brief moment on the phone, J.G. finally got hold of a nearby cab company that could have a taxicab arrive to pick him up at the firehouse in less than fifteen minutes. Hanging up the phone, he was about to head outside to wait for the ride until Christina stood in front of him, trying to calm him down. "Jay, listen…I'm sure whatever's goin' on is a simple mistake."

"Mistake?!" Stantz exclaimed, catching the attention of everyone in the room. "That is my fiancée they lost, Christina!"

"She _was_ your fiancé, Jay." Christina corrected him.

He was so upset that he barely even caught his own error. Had he really refused that much to accept the passing of the woman he once loved? It was a feeling so overwhelming that he had to take a moment to do what Christina attempted to get him to do and calm down. Walking over to the same couch where Alex was sitting and watching television from, he sat down and began rubbing his fingers through his messy black hair.

Alex almost couldn't bear to see the same guy who used to be her boss in the bookstore he owned a couple years ago in such a brooding attitude. It was almost uncharacteristic of him, considering how full of life he was. Without even thinking, she muted the television set and sat in closer to the guy who had recently become her best friend. "Hey, Dr. Stantz…I miss Alexis, too. I still remember when she first came into the bookstore that day, wanting to bring you back into the team. I knew from that moment you two were meant to be together."

The teenage wizard hoped that what she had told the Ghostbuster would help bring him out of his funk rather than put him further into it. It was rather difficult to tell, seeing the great deal of frustration in his face as he stared off into space. However, Alex refused to give up. She finally told J.G. with one last ditch effort, "If it makes you feel better, I'll go with you to find her."

Christina felt it was necessary to step in and interject that moment. "No, sweetie – I don't think that'd be…"

"No." J.G. quickly and calmly protested. "It's okay. Alex _was_ there the day I first met Alexis…so she has every right to be involved."

Alex smiled, feeling honored to be part of something special in the life of her boss, mentor, and friend. She only wished that her reason for joining him hadn't been under unfortunate circumstances such as this.

"Dr. Stantz," Phineas approached, "if you require some special technical assistance in finding Alexis, Ferb and I reconfigured our P.K.E. Meter to search for any forms of life that are…well…for a more simplistic terminology…lifeless."

In addition to this, Ferb stated, "No offense to Miss Embers, of course."

J.G. grinned – something he hadn't done in days. "If it helps find Alexis, none taken."

Seeing Phineas and Ferb in the firehouse headquarters, Louise curiously inquired, "Aren't you boys a little young to be staying up this late in the evening, hanging out with strangers, and searching for dead bodies with equipment designed by a grown-up?"

Phineas and Ferb exchanged a quick glance and then responded to Louise's inquiry in unison. "Yes…yes, we are."

Louise just shrugged, looking very nonchalant as she turned toward the staircase. "Whatever. If you chaps need me, I'll be upstairs in bed."

Watching her depart in such a non-caring manner, Christina shook her head, clearly unable to accept her atrocious behavior.

_I can't believe having her around here is actually startin' to make me miss Dr. Venkman…just a little._


	11. Chapter 11: Into the Dark Abyss

**Chapter Eleven: Into the Dark Abyss**

_I've always followed and played by the rules_

_Thought the prize goes to those who are true_

_Still nobody can answer me_

_When's it gonna be my turn?_

_When's it gonna be my turn?_

_Yesterday I've learned from tomorrow is uncertain_

_So why can't I just make my turn today?_

'_Cause yesterday I've burned from tomorrow is uncertain_

_So why can't I just make my turn today?_

Hoobastank rocked the stage set upon the sky deck of the S.S. Tipton where many youths (including Meagan Tully, Max Goof, P.J., Zack, Cody, Bailey, Marcus, Woody, and London) were singing along with the lyrics, while jumping up and down and cheering them on. It was a scene straight out of a rock concert; only this one took place on a cruise ship. At least that was how it looked to Diana Zeddemore, who sat at one of the nearby tables, sipping on a glass of fruit punch while looking out onto the beautiful view of the night sea passing by them. Illuminated by the full moon, Diana felt more than relaxed looking upon the image, even while the heavy rock music blasted near her.

Soon it had ceased and the band said their many thanks to the fans in the crowd before leaving the stage to sign some autographs. Meagan, whose overexcitement was shown through her sweat-drenched hair and heavily-fogged glasses, nearly bumped into several other people while trying to find someplace to sit and clean her glasses. Seeing the difficulty she was having, Diana shouted to her, "Meagan! Over here, hon!"

The young Ghostbuster's ears perked once she heard the voice and moved in its direction slowly and carefully. She eventually bumped against the table, nearly knocking Diana's glass of punch over. Careful, she sat down in a chair across from Zeddemore and removed her glasses. "Thanks, Dr. Zeddemore. Can I have…?"

"Certainly." She handed Meagan a napkin to wipe the fogged-up lenses of her glasses with, squinting while doing so. Diana smiled at her and said, "You look gorgeous without them."

Meagan looked up at her – her blue eyes hidden slightly behind her squinted eyelids. "I'm sorry?"

"You look gorgeous without your glasses."

She chuckled and lowered her head bashfully. "Thank you, Dr. Zeddemore…but I…well, I'm pretty _blind_ without them, to be honest."

Diana nodded. "Well, we gotta get you some contacts, because that lovely face shouldn't be hidden behind such huge glasses all the time."

"Dr. Venkman doesn't think so." Meagan said, placing the spot-clean glasses back over her eyes. "She says glasses are the hottest fashion trend in America. It's like our version of Japan's colored hairstyles."

"You sure Dr. Spengler didn't tell you that?"

_CLICK!_

Without warning, all of the lights and other electrical equipment on the S.S. Tipton shut off, leaving all of its passengers completely in the dark. The only source of light they had was from the moonlight, which allowed them to see somewhat. Meagan and Diana quickly departed from the sky deck and made their way to the bridge, where Jack Sparrow had (temporarily) took control of the ship with Kimberly Venkman, Sean Spengler, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy all keeping close eye on him. Once there, they discovered Jack looking out the window as if he wasn't entirely aware of what just happened.

"What's going on?" Diana asked Venkman and Spengler.

Before either of the two scientists could answer, Sparrow uttered in a very serious tone, "We're here."

Kimberly gazed out the window, seeing nothing but total blackness beyond the borders of the cruise ship. "Where's 'here'? I don't see _anything_, man!"

While the others looked and tried to search for what Sparrow was seeing that they clearly weren't, Spengler pulled out his P.K.E. Meter and switched it on, searching for signs of activity in a more technological way. He kept his focus on the device as Marion Moseby entered the bridge frantically and screamed, "What the heck is going on here? Why have we suddenly lost power?"

"Cap'n Sparrow shut off tha power." Goofy answered.

Moseby fell silent and confused for a brief moment and stated, "Okay…let's begin with the obvious question…_Why_?"

"Had to, mate." Jack calmly remarked. "If we go any further, we'd be travelin' into uncharted territories."

Sparrow's statement garnered questionable expressions amongst the faces of everyone in the bridge. Even Diana had to asked him, "How 'uncharted' are we talking about here? I mean, this _is_ the Atlantic Ocean. People trek across here every day – every inch of it is charted on maps all over the world. If there was any inkling of 'uncharted territory', it would be on the map, right?"

"You wanted to find the Black Cauldron, darling…" Sparrow gestured out to the vast sea of blackness beyond the window. "…here it is."

Moseby just about reached his limit of patience with the pirate. "All right, that's it! Off this bridge _immediately_! I just about had it with your ridiculous pla…"

_MOOOOORRRRRRRUUUUUMMMM!_

The loud, ominous noise echoed throughout the air, all while the entire cruise ship suddenly rocked and quaked. The people in the bridge held onto pieces of equipment within the area to balance themselves until the movement had ceased. All became quiet before Spengler's P.K.E. Meter made strange electronic noises that were never before heard by the highly-intelligent Ghostbuster. Gazing over it, he slapped the left side of it, an action the others weren't used to seeing him do with the device.

"Oh, damn. That is _not_ good." Kimberly said. "Please tell me you're not slapping that thing like a busted T.V. remote."

"I can't explain it. The P.K.E. is going dead on me." Sean remarked. "It's _never_ done this before – this thing runs on unlimited power cells, not store-bought batteries."

Venkman's face registered increasing confusion. "Then what the hell is…?"

"Guys!"

The frantic voice of Max Goof spoke from the doorway leading into the bridge, and when all heads turned to face him, they could see his silhouette masked with fear and panic. Goofy looked on in concern and asked, "Max? You okay, son?"

"Dad…you'd better come down and see this…this…I've _never_ seen _anything_ like this before!"

Max led the group out of the bridge and to the sky deck. Many other passengers there stood near opposite sides of the ship, looking over the rails and murmuring amongst themselves in a mixture of surprise, confusion, amusement, and fear. Almost everyone had flashlights that they shined over the seawater surrounding the ship. Max brought everyone to the side of the ship where Cody, Zack, Bailey, P.J., and Woody were watching from.

What the group saw at the moment they were brought to the rail took them by total surprise. Rather than miles and miles of seawater, they saw miles and miles of slime…purple, bubbling slime. To Sean and Diana, it looked like a close representation of the "River of Slime" they had found deep beneath the city of New York. The only difference being that what they were looking upon that very moment was a "_Sea_ of Slime."

"Something tells me BP is gonna get blamed for this." Venkman jested.

"Slime…an actual, honest-to-God _Sea of Slime_…" Meagan uttered.

"Just when I thought this job couldn't get _any_ weirder." Diana said.

Moseby's jaw dropped at the immense collection of slime that plagued the sea, while Jack put his smelly arm around him and grinned. "Are ya glad I shut down your ship _now_, mate?"

Meanwhile, Spengler put the "defunct" P.K.E. Meter away, finding it completely useless. The rest of their investigation relied heavily on Jack Sparrow and his "instincts" (or whatever he wanted to call them). "All right, Jack. You've got the lead now. Where do we go from here?"

Sparrow didn't answer right away; instead he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out his broken compass. It was a compact device with a domed cover made from pure lapis lazuli. The inside lid was detailed with a map of the heavens, and the compass disk itself was sliced from a walrus tusk. The compass was quite a distraction to Kimberly Venkman, seeing that it was totally useless in its function – it did not point due north.

Frustrated, she knocked the compass out of Sparrow's hand and yelled, "Stop that!"

The action caught Jack by surprise, as he watched his compass skid across the floor of the sky deck. He sheepishly gazed left and right and said in a reply to Spengler's earlier question, "We wait."

"Wait for what?" Diana inquired.

"The other ship."

"What other ship?" Mickey asked.

"You know, you people _really_ ask a lot of questions."

"Because you're not givin' us enough answers, _Captain_ Sparrow." Kim remarked. "You've led us all the way out into the Atlantic and straight into Captain Planet's worse nightmare. And you're tellin' us to wait for a ship that we know _nothing_ about? What the hell kinda captain are you, dude?"

Sparrow held up his arms, grinned, and told the Ghostbuster, "One of a kind, love."

At that moment, Woody's eyes moved away from the Sea of Slime and straight ahead just in time to see a large, dark figure moving toward the S.S. Tipton. Spooked, he cried to the others and pointed, "Look!"

Everyone's attention soon followed Woody's, seeing the dark figure coming their way. Once it got a little closer to the cruise ship, its features became clearer to the passengers. It was a genuine pirate ship with tattered black sails and soot colored hull. Its black color appeared to have been its greatest advantage, enabling itself to effectively hide in the dark of night. And judging from the length of time it took for the ship to reach the S.S. Tipton, it seemed to be extremely fast, sailing with the wind.

The sudden appearance of this ghostly ship spooked everyone aboard the S.S. Tipton, except for Jack Sparrow, who simply just smiled wholeheartedly at it. Diana, after swallowing hard, stammered an inquiry to the pirate captain. "W-What is that?"

Sparrow's smile remained as he answered, "That, my dear, is the ship we're waiting for…_my_ ship…_The Black Pearl_."


	12. Chapter 12: Dead Men Tell No Tales

**Chapter Twelve: Dead Men Tell No Tales**

A long, wooden plank was set up between _The Black Pearl_ and the S.S. Tipton, as both ships floated side-by-side with each other. Instantly, the pirates aboard the ship trekked across the plank – their swords held firmly high – climbing aboard the S.S. Tipton. They whooped and shouted obscenities upon forcing their way onto the ship, scaring the living daylights out of the cruise ship's passengers. Amongst the pirates was Joshamee Gibbs, the First Mate of _The Pearl_, who held up two flintlocks while hopping aboard the S.S. Tipton and joining his fellow pirates in cornering the passengers.

It wasn't until Jack Sparrow spoke up from within the crowd when the pirates ceased their actions. "Attention, ya scallywags! Ye will cease this malicious activity! We are not here to pillage…at least not _right now_."

Seeing Sparrow emerged from the crowd, Gibbs lowered his flintlocks with a smile. "Jack!" He then turned to his fellow pirates and yelled, "Aye! Ye heard the captain! Lower your weapons!"

The pirates did as they were ordered, until another voice spoke out to them. "Nay! Belay that order!"

All heads turned to face the speaker, who was none other than Hector Barbossa – Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea and (at the moment, it appeared) captain of _The Black Pearl_. Sitting on his shoulder was a capuchin monkey known as "Jack," mockingly named after Jack Sparrow himself. Needless to say, Sparrow was not too surprise to see Barbossa taking the position of "acting captain" in his absence again. However, it was a surprise to the Ghostbusters to see Barbossa, after last year's excursion within the Seventh Circle of Hell.

"Barbossa…think he might remember us?" Diana whispered to her cohorts.

"God, I hope so…or else we're totally screwed." Kimberly replied.

The pirates partied as Barbossa walked through and approached Sparrow, who maintained his confident stance while faced with his longest adversary. "Nice seein' ya again, Jack."

"You talking to me or the monkey again?" Sparrow inquired.

Barbossa ignored his inquiry, which he couldn't decide was sarcasm or Sparrow's typical confusion, and kept focused on other matters. "What ya be doin' with these _commoners_, Jack? Have ya stooped so low that ya now commandeer pleasure ships?" That comment registered a few hints of laughter from the crew with the notable exception of Gibbs.

"Now there's where you'd be wrong, Barbossa." Sparrow contradicted. "Not _all_ of these people here are commoners. A few of them are in fact the very same peculiar individuals you encountered in the Seventh Circle not very long ago."

The brow of Barbossa furrowed on Sparrow's words, and his gaze moved away from the _real_ captain of the _Black Pearl_ to the crowd of passengers standing behind him. His focus centered on the small group of men and women wearing uniforms that undoubtedly looked _very_ familiar to him. Unsheathing his sword, Barbossa walked to the crowd, who gasped at the sight of him with the sword out. Some believed that he was going to attack them all; but that was until he commanded…

"Stand aside!"

All of the passengers then began to part ways, including the Ghostbusters. However, Barbossa made it very clear that he did _not_ want _them_ to part with the others, when he pointed his sword directly to the group and added…

"Not you all! Ya stay front and centered!"

Kimberly, Sean, Diana, Meagan, and the Junior Ghostbusters did as the pirate said and stood right in front of him. With his sword still held out, Barbossa surveyed the group from the front and back, looking all over their uniforms and equipment. While he was standing and observing from behind, Kimberly whispered to Meagan, "I want to make a joke about 'pirates' and 'booty', but I think I already did last time."

Once Barbossa finally stood back in front of the group again, he pointed the tip of his sword in the face of Mickey Mouse and asked, "Where is 'The Caretaker'? She is the one we answer to!"

Knowing exactly who Barbossa was referring to, Mickey swallowed hard and answered in a stammer, "S-She's gone, sir. She di…she d-di…"

"She was killed." Spengler spoke out. "One of the spirits of the Seventh Circle slew her in battle."

Barbossa centered his attention on Spengler, his sword pointed to him at that moment; of course, Sean didn't seem as fazed by it as Mickey had been. "Are ye tellin' me that tha one being who controls the Underworld is gone?"

"Pretty much." Sean uttered calmly.

For a while, all was quiet. And then Barbossa moved the sword away from Spengler and returned at the side of his crew. "Well, now…that changes _everything_."

The Ghostbusters exchanged curious glances with one another.

"How so?" Venkman asked Barbossa.

"Because _now_ we get to kill ya without _any_ limitations."

Barbossa's crew (once again with the exception of Mr. Gibbs) chuckled sinisterly at the idea their "captain" put in their heads, once more lifting their weapons up high. The Ghostbusters, beyond jittered by the sudden shift in tension, placed their hands behind them to reach for their Proton Guns. All of the passengers on the S.S. Tipton grew stiff, feeling an intense battle about to take place upon the sky deck between the two parties. Just when it seemed as if they were about to throw down…

"Did you _not_ hear the man, mate?" Sparrow inquired to Barbossa. "The Caretaker of the Underworld is gone, which means someone else is now in charge of things down there."

"And what business is that of mine, Jack?" Barbossa asked.

"The one who slays the Caretaker of the Underworld – a position originally held by Hades himself – holds the title himself or herself." Jack stated.

The Ghostbusters were following Sparrow on every word, and they appeared very shocked once they drew on a conclusion.

"You mean…Shan Yu…is the new leader of the Underworld?" Mickey exclaimed.

The startled eyes of Barbossa, his crew, and even Jack Sparrow suddenly focused on the mouse. "Ya say one of Chernabog's enforcers is now in charge of the Underworld?" Barbossa cried.

He then looked to Sparrow, who simply held up his hands innocently and said, "Don't look at me, mate. I'm just hearing about this now."

Looking very defeated (if not peeved), Barbossa ordered his men, "Lower yer weapons! We not be killin' anyone today _apparently_!" The crew followed the acting captain's command, resulting in the Ghostbusters keeping their hands away from their Proton Guns.

"So now you understand why we're out here." Diana said. "There's something happening here that's bigger than either of us. And the only way we're going to figure any of it out is if you help us find what we're looking for."

"And what is that exactly?" Barbossa questioned.

"The Black Cauldron." Sparrow informed. "The Horned King's most treasured item."

Barbossa grinned, flashing his dark and yellow teeth. "Ah, yes. We did see some of His Majesty's soldiers floatin' by here with that particular item a while ago. But we paid no mind, because we were too focused on the mortal ship sailing our waters."

"In case you haven't noticed, dude, you're not sailing over 'waters' exactly." Kimberly indicated.

"Call it what you want, but _waters_ is what it's always been to us!" Barbossa snapped angrily.

"Well, whatever…are you okay with us borrowing your ship to continue going after the Cauldron?" Venkman asked.

Barbossa glanced carefully at the Ghostbusters before responding. "Aye, ye can…but ya have to first be willin' to accept the dangers that'll follow in your journey out into these uncharted waters."

Kimberly nodded reluctantly. "Fine, whate…"

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Diana interjected. "What _dangers_?"

"Ya be sailin' over waters that are unlike any you've sailed before, my dear…ones with sea creatures that are monstrous, demonic, and deadly. And I ain't talkin' about sharks or stingrays. Oh, no. I'm talkin' about creatures that can obliterate ya in a heartbeat, which – to us – ain't much of anything in the afterlife."

The bodies on the Ghostbusters tensed. Of course, they were used to facing terrifying things in their line of work; but never before had they faced them out in the sea. It would be an experience that would go on record as the greatest (or craziest) thing they had ever done. And for Mickey, Goofy, Donald, P.J., and Max, it would only solidify their future as Senior Ghostbusters even more. In fact, maybe such an adventure might even _promote_ them into Senior Ghostbusters…that was _if_ they survived.

Still skeptical of the idea, Diana nervously looked to her colleagues and asked, "Are you guys _sure_ you want to go through with this?"

Kimberly sighed in despair and answered, "No…but let's face it, Dye…we've been through worse. Right?"

"That's what you _always_ say about these things, and we _still_ get our butts caught in something not any of us can handle." Diana contradicted.

"I-I'll have to agree with Dr. Zeddemore on this one, D-Dr. Venkman." Meagan uttered.

"But we _need_ to find Lisa and the Cauldron." Sean clarified. "And the only way to do it is by going into the uncharted territory. We have no other choice."

"Look, everybody just stay cool, alright?" Venkman said. "Just trust ol' Kimmie on this one, and we'll be outta this before you know it."

Unfortunately, Kimberly Venkman was masking fear with confidence upon making such an assurance to her teammates.

* * *

**New York City**

Christina wanted to keep herself awake as long as it took her to wait for when J.G., Alex, Phineas, and Ferb returned from their search for Alexis Embers's body. She could not fathom the thought of Stantz having to do such a thing. Alexis should have been kept safe at the hospital morgue until the day of her funeral. How could the doctors lose her body to begin with? Such a question was what kept her awake the rest of the night – that and the hot cup of cocoa she drank while watching an episode of _True Blood_ on television downstairs.

At one point, she heard a car outside the firehouse drive close by. She almost dismissed it as another one just passing through, until she heard car doors opening and slamming closed very quickly. Turning her head to the front door, she watched just in time to see it open and Alex, Phineas, and Ferb walk in. J.G. was not with them, which left Christina to believe that something went wrong. And that belief was confirmed immediately once she watched Alex rush to the couch she was sitting on, sobbing and trembling terribly.

"Alex, what's wrong, sweetie?" Christina asked her the moment she sat down across from her.

Phineas and Ferb, both appearing much panicked, rushed up behind the couch. Phineas hurriedly cried, "We gotta get Meagan and Drs. Venkman, Spengler, and Zeddemore back here! We've gotta get all of the Junior Ghostbusters here! We're gonna need as much help as we can get on this, Miss Melnitz!"

"Whoa, whoa! Slow down, hon." Christina beckoned. "Get help on what? What's going on? Where's Jay?"

Alex sobbed harder than ever and Phineas and Ferb looked very distraught. Not even Phineas could muster the courage to say anything, so Ferb spoke on his behalf. "It was Shan Yu, Miss Melnitz. He was the one who took Alexis's body. When Dr. Stantz found this out, he told us to come back here and alert you and Miss Peck about it. Of course, we stayed to watch and…" Ferb stopped there, unable to utter the last words of his lengthy explanation.

However, Alex screamed them out through her tears.

"He's dead! He killed him!"

After that was said, Alex jumped off the couch, sobbing uncontrollably while running upstairs to her room. Watching her leave, Christina felt very cold. Although she was at first confused on whom she was referencing, it quickly dawned on her that the "him" she meant was J.G. Stantz.

_Jay is…dead?_

Not even Christina could believe it without even saying it out loud.


	13. Chapter 13: At Underworld's End

**Chapter Thirteen: At Underworld's End**

"_Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirate's life for me! We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot…Drink up, me 'earties, yo-ho! We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot…Drink up, me 'earties, yo-ho! Yo-ho, yo-ho…_"

"GOOFY!" Kimberly shouted. "Would you _please_ stop singing that song?"

Goofy dunked his mop in the wooden bucket full of ectoplasm provided for him, before continuing to wash the deck of _The Black Pearl_ with the other Ghostbusters. "A-hyuck! Sorry, Dr. Venkman. I just get such a kick outta bein' on a pirate ship."

"Well, that makes one of us." Diana muttered while dunking her mop into the bucket angrily. "How the hell did we let Jack Sparrow talk us into being deck swabs for _The Pearl_?"

"It was the only way Barbossa would allow us to be on the ship." Sean stated upon noticing a pirate pass by them, grinning viciously their way. "We're not exactly a welcomed party on this ship, you realize."

Also noticing the grinning pirate, an offended Venkman detached her particle thrower from her Proton Pack with one hand (while the other still remained on the mop) and aimed it at the pirate. "Just take one move, bad boy, and I'll fry you to a shish kabob!" On this threat, the pirate did not respond and instead moved along, leaving Kimberly to holster her thrower and continue swabbing the deck.

"Not a smart move, Kim." Diana uttered. "It's not like we're already having a hard time watching our butts on this ship."

"Well, as long as we've got them covered by our handy nuclear accelerators, we don't need to worry too much." Venkman remarked.

Meanwhile, Max Goof stopped swabbing long enough to take notice of what it was they were swabbing onto the deck. "Anybody thought exactly _why_ we are putting _slime_ on the deck? I'd figure they would want the ship _clean_."

"They're ghosts, man." P.J. answered. "Germs are the least of their worries." He didn't sound too happy upon answering, which was evident from the way he sloshed his mop in the bucket, sending bits of ectoplasm all over, including onto Meagan Tully's glasses.

Flinching from the splash, Meagan shut her eyes and took off her glasses to clean them off. "Hey, watch it!"

"Oops." P.J. said sheepishly. "Sorry about that, Meagan."

The Ghostbusters suddenly heard approaching footsteps and looked up to see Captains Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa coming their way. "Here they come. Look alive, everybody." Mickey suggested.

"Is there any other way to look?" Goofy jested.

Donald rolled his eyes at Goofy's response. "Oh, brother."

The two captains approached the team, both looking very opposite from one another. While Sparrow stood with a brisk of confidence (having finally gotten control over _The Pearl_ – albeit sharing it with Barbossa), Barbossa seemed a little stiff (no pun intended), possibly due to the armed mortals who were on the ship. The boots of both pirates made squishing sounds while standing over the slime-drenched deck, just the way they wanted. Even Barbossa was impressed by the great work they had done.

"Ahh, nothin' beats the feel of slime under me toes." Sparrow said. "Did a find job, lads."

"Yeah, fine, whatever." Kimberly said. "How far are we to the Underworld?"

"Patience is virtue, Dr. Venkman." Barbossa remarked. "Ye will know fer sure when the Underworld approaches as it happens."

Hearing his answer, Kimberly threw down her mop and approached Barbossa, getting right into his face. She could practically smell the rum on his breath. "Then I don't wanna waste any more of my time on the deck, swabbing puke all over your ship! Until we get to our destination, I want myself and my team somewhere more comforting!"

Barbossa grinned. "Trust me, Doctor. The deck might be the _best_ spot on the ship for you and _your_ crew." He turned to walk away from the Ghostbuster, until he spotted Meagan still cleaning her glasses and stopped. Barbossa's eyes squinted her way, looking carefully at her face, which – at the moment – wasn't hidden behind large frames. Venkman was still complaining to him, but he hadn't heard a word, being focused on Meagan entirely.

Walking up to her, Barbossa asked, "You! Girl! Yer last name wouldn't happen to be Turner or Swann, would it?"

Meagan could barely see Barbossa as he addressed her, leaving her to question if he was or not. "Who…me?"

"Yes, you!" Barbossa snapped.

"Well…uh…my great-great-great grandmother _did_ go by the last name of 'Swann', but after she married, the family name has always been 'Tully,' which sounds a little close to 'Turner' when you think of it."

Observing the conversation, Sparrow appeared more befuddled than usual. "I'm sorry, since when have we started taking an interest in family history again?"

Barbossa then grabbed Meagan's face at the sides and brought her over to Sparrow. "Take a closer look, Jack. Who does she remind ya of?"

Sparrow observed Meagan's face, which was heavily scrunched up from the tight grip that Barbossa had upon it, making any sort of identification of the young Ghostbuster's _real_ identity somewhat undistinguishable. "I dunno. Mr. Cotton?" Realizing how Meagan's face looked upon his grip, Barbossa let go and returned it to its normal state. After doing so, Sparrow took a step back in surprise, his own face registering amusement. "Elizabeth?"

"Aye!" Barbossa exclaimed. "Elizabeth!"

"Who's Elizabeth?" Diana inquired to the pirates.

"Elizabeth Swann…the daughter of a governor in Port Royal, who we just happened to have many _excursions_ with when we were among the living." Barbossa explained. "She eventually became captain of her own ship and married to a young pirate named Will Turner, the captain of _The Flying Dutchman_."

Listening intently, Mickey asked, "And you think Meagan is a descendant of hers?"

"Either that or a reincarnation." Max presumed.

"No, no. We've already gone through that subplot with Dye here." Kimberly mentioned.

"Gee, thanks for reminding everyone, Kim." Diana sarcastically stated.

Holding Meagan by her left wrist, Barbossa proclaimed, "Call it whatever ya want, but this girl is a spittin' image of Elizabeth Swann."

"Well, thank you for noticing, Captain Bar…WHOA!"

Meagan felt a sudden jolt in her arm as Barbossa led her away from the deck and to the captain's quarters, causing her to drop her glasses in the process. Kimberly attempted to follow after them, but she was quickly blocked by two very tall pirates of African descent before she could take another step. Turning to Jack, she asked, "Where's he taking her?"

Sparrow wasn't precisely certain himself of what Barbossa was doing with Meagan. The best answer he gave was, "There are two things you've gotta know about Barbossa. The man is obsessed with apples…"

There was a long, awkward pause that followed, leaving the Ghostbusters to wonder why Sparrow stopped.

"Yeah. And…?" Diana urged him to continue.

"And what?" Jack asked in confusion.

"You said there are _two_ things." Sean reminded.

Sparrow blinked a few times, still very confused. "I did? Oh…well…when I think of the second one, I'll let you mates know."

Diana looked down and shook her head in irritation. While doing so, she spotted where Meagan's glasses had fallen and leaned over to pick them up, so no one would accidentally step on them. After retrieving them, Diana nearly fell forward just as the ship suddenly lurched to the left. In fact, everyone on board nearly collapsed upon the movement.

Looking around in a mixture of shock and confusion, Kimberly asked, "What in God's name was _that_?"

Before anyone could answer, again, the ship rocked – only it was more extreme that time, finally succeeding in knocking most of the people onboard off their feet. Immense fear registered on Jack Sparrow's face upon realization of what was creating the violent lurches over _The Pearl_. Even Mr. Gibbs seemed heavily intimidated while standing on the upper deck, looking over the rail and screaming to Sparrow, "Jack! Is it really him?"

Sparrow stood up and replied in agitation, "It can _only_ be him, mate."

Venkman reached the point of total aggravation from all of the cryptic exchanges amongst the _Pearl_ crew. "Who are you people talking about _now_? What have you _not_ told us yet?"

Out of nowhere came an immensely loud gurgling noise and everyone on the ship turned their heads in time to see something _humungous_ rise out from the Sea of Slime. It was a supernatural galleon, armed with forty-six cannons, not including two triple-barreled chase guns. The ship's deck was intertwined with the skeletons of ferocious sea beasts. Its hull appeared to be constructed entirely from driftwood with every surface encrusted with barnacles and other aquatic flora and fauna from the seabed. The cannons emerged from ports that were carved into the hull and took the forms of sea demons with wide gaping mouths.

The prow of the ship resembled a fanged mouth and featured a carved figurehead resembling the grim reaper and his scythe. In addition, the sails were white but raggedy with multiple holes, perhaps from the many trips into the ocean's depths. It was certainly a sight to behold; however, considering the looks on the faces of the _Pearl_ crew, it was one they would prefer never to witness. The Ghostbusters, detaching their particle throwers from the packs, stood ready for whatever it was that had come out of the slime.

"What the hell is that?" Diana inquired.

"It's _The Flying Dutchman_, love." Sparrow answered.

Kimberly breathed a sigh of relief on his answer, turning to Jack and saying, "Oh…then no worries. You said that 'Will Turner' guy became captain, so we're amongst friends…aren't we?"

"Afraid not." Sparrow said. "You see, Will only took control of _The Dutchman_ for ten years – and ten years _only_. After then, the ship sank to the depths below and kept sinking until it reached the Underworld…where Davy Jones reclaimed it."

Gawking back at the ship with uneasy eyes, Kimberly uttered, "Oh, hell."

"Hell be an entirely different plane of existence, mortal!"

The wickedly nasal voice with the heavy Scottish accent spoke directly behind the crew, and when everyone turned to it, they were met by the terrifying sight of Davy Jones and his crew. All of them carried a monstrous appearance, having merged with various aquatic fauna, losing their humanity entirely. Jones was the worst of them all with a head replaced with something resembling a cephalopod, brandishing a "beard" of forty-six tentacles hanging from his mottled, green-skinned face. A prominent sac also bulged from the back of Jones' head, which was nestled underneath a hat covered with barnacles, as well as a siphon on the left side of his face that made up for his lacking nose (a trait being the reason for his nasally voice). On his left arm was a crustacean-style claw, and on his right hand was a long tentacle-like index finger; this, of course, matched with his right leg, which resembled that of a crab that in turn gave Jones a peg leg and an awkward gait.

That gait was clearly evident when Jones started making his way towards Sparrow, the Ghostbusters, and the _Pearl_ crew. "I'd ask ya if ya felt dead, Jack…but we all know the answer to that one." Jones' men briefly laughed over the joke he made, before continuing to observe the group in front of him. "Ya brought mortals too close to the border of the Underworld, Jack. That alone will cost you a ship!"

"Word has it that the Underworld is currently under new management, mate." Sparrow remarked. "The rules can change at _any_ time now."

"The rules stay the same!" Jones barked, his tentacles responding to his furious tone by twitching slightly. "Turn back now or we will ransack _The Pearl_!"

Kimberly suddenly moved forward and yelled to the _Dutchman_ captain, "Ransack this, Captain D!" She then unleashed a brief particle stream that connected with the tentacle on Jones' right hand, singeing it off completely.

Jones howled in great pain and followed after it with one fierce command to his crew. "KILL THEMMMMMM!"

The _Dutchman_ crew then charged after the Ghostbusters and the _Pearl_ crew, while Jones fell back from the fight and nursed his wound by dunking his hand into one of the buckets of slime on _The Pearl's_ deck. Jack Sparrow and Kimberly Venkman led their people into the battle against the _Dutchman_ crew, showing no mercy whatsoever. Several of the fishlike beings lost limbs and other body parts from either the blade of a sword, the blast from a gun, or the immense power of the Ghostbusters' Proton Packs. Other than for firing particle streams, the Ghostbusters also used the durable steel from the particle throwers as shields to protect them from the swinging blades that almost cut off their own heads and limbs.

Max and P.J. fought side-by-side with each other, often at times watching one another's backs for an oncoming fish-person. Both were truly getting into the intense fight with Max voicing his own excitement from it. "Man, Peej! This is something else, isn't it?"

"I know, dude! Feels like only yesterday we were playing on the PS3 – now we're fightin' fish pirates!"

"It was yesterday, Pe…WATCH OUT!"

P.J. immediately ducked once instructed to by Max, who afterwards opened fire on an advancing _Dutchman_ crewman, blowing his eel-like head into a collection of slime, bone, and shredded flesh. The sudden save by Max impressed both him and P.J., neither one grossed out from the disgusting way in which the crewman was defeated.

"AWESOME!"

* * *

Meagan could hear the intense battle from inside the captain's quarters and started to feel very uneasy – more so than she did while standing in the room alone with Barbossa, who couldn't stop ogling over her. The crazed pirate captain did not even seem to recognize the fact that there was a fight happening close to where they were. All he seemed focused on was Meagan, who was still blind as a bat without her glasses. She could barely see his daunting, awkward facial expression while standing before her.

After mustering the courage to do so, Meagan inquired to Barbossa, "Um…d-don't you t-think we sh-should help out?"

"With what?"

"Th…The ship…it's u-under a-attack."

"Ship's _always_ under attack, my dear." Barbossa sent Jack (the monkey) off of his shoulder and onto the long table at the center of the room to retrieve a fresh green apple from the fruit bowel sitting there. Once returning to Barbossa's shoulder, the monkey handed the fruit to the pirate. Barbossa stuck the fruit out to Meagan and said, "Apple?"

Meagan held her hand up and shook her head. "No, thanks."

Barbossa glanced at the apple in his hand for a brief moment and then tossed it aside, causing it to crash through one of the windows within the room. Meagan jumped in surprise upon hearing and seeing the apple crash through the window, unsure why Barbossa would dispose of a perfectly good apple. After the disposal, Barbossa went to a nearby wardrobe where he retrieved a long, red Victorian dress. He stroked the beautiful, soft fabric of the dress while focusing his attention on Meagan.

"This be the same dress that Miss Swan wore when she last stood in this room. In fact, she was the _first_ woman to have ever stepped foot aboard _The Black Pearl_. The night we ransacked Port Royal, looting whatever we could while searching for the last Aztec coin that would break the curse placed upon us, was the first night I'd met Elizabeth Swann. Ever since I parted from her presence, I'd often dreamt of meeting her again in the afterlife…hoping she had forgotten all about William Turner, so I could claim her as my own."

It was that moment when Meagan started to become discomforted being in the presence of Hector Barbossa. She edged herself closer to the exit, but Barbossa took closer steps toward her. "L-Listen, C-Captain B-B-Barbossa…I r-really need to g-go help m-my f-f-friends…"

"Oh, they'll be fine. Trust me on that, my dear." He then offered the dress to her. "Try it on…just this once…for me."

Although the dress seemed like a red blur to Meagan's eyes, she recognized it was a dress nonetheless. Her time with the captain became more puzzling – and creepy – by the second. She reluctantly accepted the dress and allowed Barbossa to guide her to a nearby folding screen to go behind and switch out of her Ghostbusters uniform and equipment and into the dress. Even though Meagan received _some_ privacy, she failed to notice a stand-up mirror near her and the screen, enabling Barbossa to view her undressing through it. The pirate grinned through his yellowed teeth while watching the young Ghostbuster strip down to her light blue bra and panties.

_My, my! I forget how impressive the flesh of a living, breathing woman was_, Barbossa thought to himself during the observation.

* * *

_POW!_

Out of nowhere, Venkman was struck in the face by the tentacle of a jellyfish-like crewmember of _The Flying Dutchman_, leaving a nasty cut right across the left side of her face. She had fallen face first into the slimy deck of the ship, adding more injury to her face – as well as insult in having it covered in slime. The battle was growing more intense with no sign of either group gaining the upper hand. Kimberly, however, was showing signs of wear, looking exhausted and bruised with sections of her uniform torn from the swinging blade of a _Dutchman_ crewmember's sword.

As Kimberly attempted to get back to her feet, a crab claw suddenly lashed out, snatching her by the neck and lifting her off her feet. Between gasps, she noticed her attacker was none other than Davy Jones, who had her by the neck with his crustacean-style claw hand while the other hand (the one with the _freshly healed_ tentacle) went for his sword. "I hadn't forgotten what ya did ta me, missy! You almost made me lose somethin' important! Now I'll make sure _you_ lose somethin' of yours…_permanently_!"

A woman of very many comebacks, Kimberly Venkman seemed to have been without one with Davy Jones' claw closing up on her windpipe. Of course, that seemed to be the least of her troubles as Jones brought his sword over her chest with the intention of cutting out her heart. It was practically beating rapidly from all of the fighting she was going through, giving Jones an easy target for him to make the first incision. Although, just as he brought the tip of the sword to Kim's chest…

_BOOOOOOONNNGGGSSSSHHH!_

_KURRR-CRACK!_

Jones' claw arm suddenly shattered apart, detaching from his body and leaving Venkman to fall back to the deck. Just as he had done before, Jones howled in immense pain, falling to his knees and clutching his shattered and smoking claw arm. As she removed the broken end of Jones' claw and regained her breathing, Kimberly soon realized that it was Diana Zeddemore who saved her life by blasting at the claw with her particle thrower. Diana walked right over to Venkman and helped her stand back up, all while carrying a grin on her face.

"I owe you a _big_ raise." Kimberly said.

"Damn straight you do." Zeddemore remarked.

The howling and snarling of the gravely wounded Davy Jones brought the women's attention back to him. He glared at them, his eyes registering a mixture of fury and pain, and then yelled to his crewmen, "RETREAT!"

And with the blink of an eye, Davy Jones and his crew vanished from the deck of _The Pearl_, reemerging on _The Flying Dutchman_. The Ghostbusters and the _Pearl_ crew cheered victoriously, even going as far as standing by the rail and mocking the _Dutchman_ crew. In great distain, Jones and his men stared at their adversaries. Jones, stroking his broken claw arm, did not take his gaze away from one particular opponent – Kimberly Venkman – as he addressed one of his crewmen with a single order.

"Summon the Kraken," he said in a lowly tone.

On this order, Jones' crew immediately went to work, moving to a peculiar device on the ship's deck – a massive hammer in the form of a capstan – with nine crewmen working on it. Other crewmen stood around the ones who were cranking the device, encouraging them to put all of their strength in with the lashing of heavy whips. After a few, long cranks, the hammer on the device shot straight down and emitted a loud _bong_ sound. The structure of the _Dutchman_ ship, as well as that of _The Pearl_, vibrated heavily.

As soon as Sparrow and his men felt the vibrations, Mr. Gibbs screamed to the entire crew – in a very terrified tone of voice, "LOAD ALL CANNONS!" The men went to carrying out his command, most of them heading to the lower deck to ready the cannons.

The Ghostbusters looked on in confusion; they were surprised to see how the men switch between cheerful and petrified in less than a minute. Seeing Jack standing where he was – looking rather worried himself, Mickey asked, "What's goin' on? I thought we won?"

"When it comes to fightin' Davy Jones, _no one_ wins, mate…especially when he unleashes his beastly prize."

Venkman seemed very confused. "Beastly prize?"

"The Kraken." Jack grimly uttered.

_BBBBBOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRRMMMM!_

Like before, upon the arrival of _The Flying Dutchman_, a tremor came over the ship – only not as violent as before. All soon fell very silent; Mr. Gibbs stood in between the upper and lower decks, waiting to give Jack's order to fire just as soon as the Kraken made its presence known. The Ghostbusters, their particle throwers firmly gripped, braced for another oncoming attack. None of them were certain of how big the Kraken would be, despite the fact that few of them have studied on the beast of mythology (unfortunately, various sources reveal different facts on the creature).

Another tremor came over the ship.

Suddenly, a long, suckered tentacle appeared…

…then another…

…and another…

…and another…

…and another…

…until the entire ship and its crew were surrounded by up to fifteen humungous, slimy tentacles, towering over at an impressive height of twenty feet.

Needless to say, the Ghostbusters felt overwhelmed from the true appearance of the Kraken, which was more terrifying than they ever imagined.

Once all of the Kraken's tentacles had reached their height requirements, Sparrow screamed to Gibbs, "FIRE!"

Gibbs repeated the command to the crew, who responded by firing all of the cannons onboard. All sides of the ship lit up as the fierce weapons connected with the base of the creature's tentacles, forcing a couple of them to retreat back into the Sea of Slime. The Ghostbusters added onto the onslaught with some firepower from their Proton Packs, singeing the tentacles with intense particle streams. Just as it had with the cannons, the severely wounded tentacles dropped back into the slime-filled ocean in defeat.

Diana laughed exultantly upon the retreating tentacles. "Yeah, man! How's that for hardcore!"

However, just as soon as Zeddemore made her remark, the tentacles reemerged and appeared much healthier than before – as if not a scratch had been laid on them. The only major difference being that it was angrier, which was clear from how it arched its form, seeming to be gearing for an attack. Shocked to see the monstrous tentacles somehow healed rapidly, the Ghostbusters tried to focus in time to dodge out of harm's way as the tentacles lashed out over the deck, slamming against several parts of _The Pearl_ and tearing them to shreds.

While hiding under the steps leading to the upper deck, Jack Sparrow and the Ghostbusters attempted to regroup and also get to the bottom of the sudden twist of events that had occurred during battle.

"What the hell is going on?" Venkman yelled. "We had this thing beat and it somehow regenerates?"

Sparrow snapped his fingers upon recollection and stated, "Knew I forgot something. The slime we happened to be sailing through now has healing capabilities for beings of the Underworld."

The Ghostbusters stared at the pirate captain in disbelief, frustration, and anger. "Shouldn't you have mentioned that _ages_ ago – like before we even got ourselves into _this_ mess?" Max grumbled.

"Well, it didn't seem too important at the time." Sparrow remarked.

* * *

Emerging from the back of the folding screen in the dress, Meagan was amused of how comfortable it felt on her body. She could've done without the heavy cleavage brought out from the dress; but, otherwise, it was almost as if it was designed just for her. The weirdest part of it all was how she started to gain some focus in her eyes without the assistance of her glasses. She could see her Ghostbuster uniform draped over the nearest chair, as well as the creepy way in which Barbossa was ogling her.

"Had I known you were this beautiful without yer eyewear, I would've tried keepin' ya in tha Seventh Circle." Barbossa uttered. "But, of course, now that yer here…we have plenty of time to catch up."

Meagan swallowed hard, waiting so desperately to leave the room, especially with her eyesight somehow returning. She turned away from Barbossa and to the stand-up mirror close to her. When she noticed her reflection, she was met with the most outrageous thing – her eyes had changed from their normal bluish hue to more of a brownish color. Never before had her eyes been known to do such a thing – she didn't carry the genes for it.

"What…What's happened to my eyes?"

Even her voice sounded different – somehow…someway…she gained an English accent!

"_Ya best start believin' in ghost stories, Miss Turner. You're in one._"

Barbossa's words came as clear as a bell to Meagan's ears. She turned and gawked his way, noticing the bedazzled expression plaguing his face. "What did you say?" Meagan cautiously asked him.

Before the crazed pirate could've given an answer…

_CRASH!_

A Kraken tentacle busted through the windows of the captain's quarters, swooping through the area and suctioning whatever stood in its way, including Barbossa and his pet monkey. Meagan almost had fallen victim herself to the tentacle, but she quickly backed away, hugging her body against the furthest wall. She was within an inch of being caught in the tentacle's swoop, until it missed her completely. Surviving the attack, she watched helplessly as Barbossa, Jack the monkey, and all of the items in the room were dragged out of the ship and into the Sea of Slime.

Taking advantage of the serendipitous moment, Meagan grabbed her uniform and equipment and ran out of the captain's quarters with them in hand, having no time to switch out of the dress to put them back on. Upon arriving back onto the deck, the young Ghostbuster was met with the macabre sight of the Kraken's other tentacles tearing into sections of _The Black Pearl_, snatching certain crewmen, and dragging them into the Sea of Slime, just as it had done with Barbossa. She didn't see her fellow Ghostbusters anywhere, which made her worry greatly. That was until she heard a nearby voice calling out to her.

"Meagan! Over here!"

It was Max, who was hiding along with the others underneath the steps to the upper deck. Rejoining her team, Meagan refused to speak out loud, not wishing for her friends to discover the odd things happening to her. In lieu of the horrifying attack of the Kraken, neither of them even noticed how she was wearing a Victorian dress. Instead of troubling them over it, she listened in on the exchange between Sparrow and the other Ghostbusters.

"We need to abandon this ship." Jack declared.

"But we haven't reached the Underworld yet." Spengler contradicted. "We need to find some sort of access point there."

Sparrow raised an eyebrow on Spengler's words. "Access point? You mean the entrance? No worries there, mate. Just let the current take you the rest of the way."

"Without a ship?" Venkman exclaimed, following on it by shaking her head negatively. "Nuh-uh! No way am I swimming in a 'sea of slime' with something bigger than the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in there!"

"The Stay What Who-Now?" Sparrow attempted to repeat the bizarre name in confusion.

"You have a better way of getting there, Kim?" Diana inquired.

_BBBBBOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRRMMMM!_

Accompanying the familiar sound was an enormous shadow that cast right over the group. Once they looked up, they spotted one of largest and most fierce tentacles out of the fifteen of them looming over. Sparrow unsheathed his sword immediately, realizing that this would be the beast's final blow over _The Black Pearl_. Not taking his eyes off of the tentacle, he whispered to his mortal companions, "Get outta here. I'll keep 'im busy."

"Keep him busy?" Venkman shouted in surprise and disbelief. "Are you…?"

"Go…NOW…before it's too late for all of you!" Sparrow ordered, sounding – for the first time since the Ghostbusters met him – very sober and take charge, like a real captain should be…although he was _still_ crazy for attempting to take on such a monstrosity with only one sword.

Not hesitating any longer, the Ghostbusters headed for the nearest rail to make their escape. Seeing the tentacles slithering amongst it, Venkman and Spengler opened fire upon them and forced them to fall back into the slime long enough to grant a clearing. Meanwhile, the tentacle looming over Jack Sparrow started to come down; but the bold captain kept his façade without a hint of fear or cowardice. He had faced the Kraken once before…the second time was practically another regular battle to him. At the moment the tentacle was just a few feet away from him, he grinned.

The Ghostbusters climbed atop the railing, not daring themselves to look back at the mayhem that was occurring from behind. Unfortunately, they did _feel_ it, as soon as the Kraken's tentacle crashed down over the ship, knocking them off the railing in the process. The drop seemed so far that everything moved in slow motion. Within every foot they passed, sections of _The Black Pearl_ exploded to pieces all around them. Sounds of the exploding, crackling debris and the immense roar of the Kraken plagued their eardrums.

It wasn't until they finally splashed into the Sea of Slime when all was quiet…_deathly_ quiet.


	14. Chapter 14: The AntiGhostbusters Party

**Chapter Fourteen: The Anti-Ghostbusters Party**

"No more nuclear accelerators! No more Ghostbusters! No more nuclear accelerators! No more Ghostbusters!"

A large mob gathered in front of the Ghostbusters' firehouse headquarters, holding up signs that distinguished certain "Anti-Ghostbusters" messages, such as an illustration of Kimberly Venkman in place of the ghost from the company insignia and the words "No More GB's!" painted in red and green colors. Most of the mob members had on white t-shirts with similar messages. Across the street from where they chanted, an audience of Ghostbusters admirers was booing the mob, even going as far as hurling trash and rotten vegetables at them and their signs. One vegetable hit a sign and ruined the lettering on it to read, "No More JOBs!" Leading the angry mob was none other than Pete, who carried his own special sign of a large red "X" over the no-ghost logo.

Near the mob, Ciciley Park was reporting the entire incident as it took place. "The scene is mass chaos here on the street! Citizens of Midtown Manhattan, the area of the beastly attack that took place a couple of weeks ago – the same attack that was averted _by_ the Ghostbusters, have shown up here this afternoon in the 'Anti-Ghostbusters Party,' led by E.P.A. Agent Pete, to petition _against_ New York's team of paranormal investigators and eliminators."

"Ya darn-tootin' we are, missy!" Pete exclaimed, as he walked over to Ciciley and her cameraman. "And we're not leavin' 'til that Kim Venkman brings her keister outta dere and admits dah Ghostbusters are nuttin' but a menace to society!"

"Is this _really_ the right time, Pete?" Ciciley asked. "You do realize that the team lost a member just over a week ago, right? They need time to…"

"Oh, cry me a river!" Pete retorted. "Dat little lady's death is just one of the many reasons dah Ghostbusters should be put outta business! Not even one of dere own is safe!"

Ciciley almost felt like rolling her eyes at the selfishness of the overweight E.P.A. agent, whose stained formal attire was more disgusting than his attitude. However, as she did observe the attire, she noticed something rather more unsettling than the stains. "Uh…Pete?" she tried to directed his attention to it, but he was too focused on his "speech."

"Dah people of dis city need _real_ heroes, like dah fire department, dah police department, dah gas station attendant…"

"Pete?"

"…dah President of the United States, Captain Kirk, Donald Trump…"

"Pete!"

"What is it?! Can't ya see I'm in dah middle of a very important speech?!" He then heard several of the people on the street corner, including the mob that was supposed to be angry and chanting, pointing and laughing directly at him. "Hey, what's so funny?"

Ciciley tried to keep herself from laughing long enough to point downward to Pete and say, "Look down."

Pete did as the reporter said and looked down. He was suddenly stricken with shock and embarrassment upon seeing his pants around his ankles and his purple underwear exposed for everyone on the block to see it. "Gah! I thought I had that belt tightened!" He tried his best to cover himself up on both his front and back, but his attempts were futile.

Ciciley chuckled upon telling the red-faced E.P.A. agent, "You know I own a pair of Calvin Klein's just like those."

"SHUT UP!" Pete whimpered, as he hiked up his pants and ran away from the large laughing crowd.

* * *

The laughter reached even as far as inside of the firehouse headquarters, as Louise Peck was watching Ciciley Park's broadcast on television with Phineas and Ferb. With the notable exception of Ferb (who rarely expressed humor), Phineas and Louise were practically laughing their heads off, rolling on the couch with laughter. In the midst of her laughter, Louise pointed to the television set and exclaimed, "Now _that_ is bloody good television!"

"You said it, Ferb!"

Louise momentarily ceased her laughter and turned to Phineas with a strange look, yelling, "What?!"

"Oh, sorry," Phineas remarked, "force of habit."

While their laughter moved to simple chuckles, Christina entered the area and saw the raucous image of Pete running all throughout the street corner with his pants down. It was replayed on the news nearly ten times in a row. As funny as it was to most of everyone else, it was not funny at all to Christina. She had been feverishly trying to find out the story behind J.G. Stantz's death, asking Phineas and Ferb repeatedly what they had seen. It was the same answer as before – Shan Yu stabbed J.G. in the chest, killed him, and vanished along with the body.

Christina wanted so desperately to go with them to the cemetery – the scene of the crime – and retrace their steps, but she knew Alex would be too traumatized to go there after witnessing J.G.'s murder. Of course, the teen wizard did not seem too traumatized to peek in from the staircase and see what was happening on television. Christina saw her at the corner of her eye with her wand in hand. At the moment she noticed the wand, Christina got a good idea of what _really_ caused Pete's dilemma outside.

As if she could sense someone watching her, Alex turned her head and noticed Christina looking directly at her. Immediately, she bolted up the stairs with Christina following after her. Christina chased her all the way back into her quarters on the third floor. Out of breath, she tried to tell Alex as soon as she walked in, "Stop…Alex…I…Oh, Lord Almighty, those are a lot of stairs!"

"Look, I'm sorry, OK?" Alex blurted out. "But Pete has no right in talking about Alexis like that! I mean, who does he think he is talking about the company and starting this ridiculous 'Anti-Ghostbusters Party' campaign?!"

Christina sat down on one of the beds in the quarters, taking deep breaths. As soon as she was able to catch her breath, she told Alex, "I'm totally with you, sweetie. But I also think you shouldn't embarrass Pete like you did. It's not the way to approach this."

"Then what is?!" Alex tearfully inquired. "We're losing our friends, Christina. I don't wanna give up on the Ghostbusters, but I also don't want to lose anyone either. Everyone here is like family to me."

Christina practically saw the depression on her face and felt really bad for the young Junior Ghostbuster. She gestured for her to sit beside her on the bed and Alex followed. Sitting next to her, Alex rested her head upon her shoulder and continued to let the tears stream down her eyes, while Christina gently stroked her long, dark hair. "It's gonna be alright, sweetie. I have no doubt in my mind that Jay is still out there somewhere."

"But we saw what Shan Yu did to him."

"I know, I know…but maybe there's a chance he's still alive."

Alex moved her head away from Christina's shoulder and looked upon her with confused, reddened eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Remember what I told you about working this type of job?"

The young Junior Ghostbuster thought back, reminding herself of the advice that was given. "Nothing is ever what it seems?" She saw Christina nod her head with a smile and added, "Well…if Dr. Stantz isn't dead…where is he?"

Christina was just about to answer her until a bright flash of light suddenly came through the window. After the flash had dispersed, it then became _very_ dark, as if a solar eclipse had taken place. Christina and Alex moved over to the window and were greeted by a startling sight: **the entire sky was blood red**. The sun was still shining, only very eerily. Its shine was dark orange and very faded, making it as easy to observe as the moon. Every soul in New York City and the rest of the world stopped and looked to the sky, seeing the supernatural occurrence.

And then the bright red clouds began to swirl into a skull figure with horns protruding from atop. Its mouth moved and spoke with a deep, dark voice that echoed the heavens.

_**"Shan Yu! The Horned King refuses to worship to a false god who hails from the Seventh Circle! If you wish to rule the Underworld…you will have to defeat me first! So come, my adversary! We shall have…OUR WAR!"**_

The figure then vanished from the blood red sky; the clouds dispersed from it, leaving many observers puzzled and spooked – including Christina, Alex, and the rest of the Ghostbusters.

_Kim, Diana, Sean…where __are__ you?!_


	15. Chapter 15: Walk a Mile in My Boots

**Chapter Fifteen: Walk a Mile in My Boots**

Kimberly Venkman _really_ hated being slimed; so it came as no surprise that she was _beyond_ angry about swimming through miles and miles in an ocean of it all. She was surprised that she had much strength to swim as far as she did before reaching land. Pulling herself out of the slime and walking over a collection of sharp, pointy rocks, she finally collapsed onto soft dirt and grass after a few more steps toward a nearby withering forest. Although her body felt exhausted, it also felt remarkably strong at the same time. She knew that she carried some impressive strength before, but where was the extra amount of it coming from.

_Gym membership can kiss my butt, because I don't need no workout schedule_, Kim thought.

As she laid there on the ground, her eyes closed and body taking slow, deep breaths, she heard light footsteps approach. Too exhausted to ask who it was, she simply assumed it was Spengler, Diana, Max, P.J., Goofy, Donald, Mickey, or even Meagan. Finally, after a couple of minutes, the person spoke up…and Kim was met with immediate surprise upon hearing the voice…

"Uh…Kim?"

It was _her_ voice!

How was that possible?

With a start, her eyes snapped open and looked to the imposter. No doubt they _were_ in the Underworld, if forces were going to extreme lengths just to drive the Ghostbusters away from their mission. The area was partially illuminated from the dawning sky, showing to Kim who the imposter was. She looked _exactly_ like her with a few exceptions: she wore Sean's glasses. She would think the ghosts would have at least _tried_ to mimic them to the key, but this was just pathetic.

Curiously, she asked the imposter, "Who are you?"

Now things were becoming stranger…she was talking with _Sean's_ voice!

"What the hell? My voice isn't this deep!" She cleared her throat, thinking she might've swallowed some slime, and said, "Wh…What's going on?"

The person she believed to be an imposter Kimberly Venkman closed in on her and said, "Relax, Kim. It's me, Sean."  
"Spengler?" Kim exclaimed. "Well, if you're _me_, then I…"

She looked at her hands – they were the hands of a black male. She touched her chest – it was flat much like a man's chest. She touched her crotch and…well…she screamed.

Kim Spengler rolled his/her eyes in disgust. "So much for being relaxed." He/She then pulled out the P.K.E. Meter and scanned himself/herself with it, while Sean Venkman got up on her/his feet and continued freaking out.

"Oh, man! Oh, man! Oh, man!" Sean Venkman yelled. "I would've been cool with just being slimed, but to have my body switched with a man's! That's just wrong, dude!"

"You think _that's_ wrong?" A familiar voice exclaimed nearby. Kim Spengler and Sean Venkman turned their heads to see Mickey and Donald appear, both covered from head to toe in slime just like them. Mickey appeared rather upset, while Donald was surprisingly keeping a leveled head. The mouse furiously yelled, "This is exasperating!"

"Well, it's not a picnic talking in _this_ voice." Donald squawked.

It then became clear to Kim Spengler and Sean Venkman that the mouse and the duck had switched just like them, making them "Mickey Duck" and "Donald Mouse." Within mere seconds, more of their ghost-busting companions arrived at the scene, such as Max and Goofy. Goofy appeared to be flipping out himself with Max trying to calm him down.

"Son, it's not _that_ bad. Take it easy." Max uttered.

"Take it easy? Dad, I'm _you_! I'm living my worst nightmare!" Goofy screamed.

Max looked slightly offended from the comment. "Your worst nightmare is bein' me?"

Their conversation proved to the others that the father and son had switched bodies as well, making them "Max, Sr." and "Goofy, Jr." The situation was becoming weirder by the second to Sean Venkman, who turned to Kim Spengler and inquired, "Do you have _any_ explanation for what's going on now? Please say 'yes'!"

Kim Spengler analyzed the reading that he/she took over himself/herself. "Apparently, the purple slime's side effects include spiritual transference."

"Ya don't say!" Donald Mouse wittedly remarked.

"We know that, Dr. Spengler." Mickey Duck said. "How long before we go back to our old selves?"

"Well, if the experience we had with the mood slime a couple of years ago is any consolation, I'd estimate as soon as the 'spirit slime' dries away from our clothes." Kimberly Spengler stated to which the others somewhat sighed in relief. "Then there's the possibility of the slime drying into our skin pores and permanently trapping us into our current states." That news, on the other hand, was not met with much zeal from the team.

They heard movement from within the withering forest near and detached their Proton Guns from their packs, aiming them toward the noise. Soon P.J. emerged from the old trees, holding his hands up. "Whoa, whoa! It's me!"

"That depends?" Sean Venkman remarked as she/he lowered her/his Proton Gun along with the others. "Which 'me' are _you_?"

P.J. looked down at his slime-drenched self and said in embarrassment, "It's Diana."

Goofy, Jr. urgently approached "D.J." and asked, "Does that mean P.J. is Dr. Zeddemore…er…I mean P.J. is you?"

"Yeah, he's in the woods back there." D.J. gestured to the withering forest near them. "We found something you all should probably see."

D.J. led the group into the withering forest, where the breeze appeared very cool, causing the ooze-drenched bodies to shiver. Trekking through the forest, the atmosphere seemed reminiscent of the fall season. Leaves of various colors were brushed up from their boots, some even getting stuck to them, due to the slime. Between the two elements, it was a rather difficult trek. The fact that the Ghostbusters were in different bodies didn't help much either – Mickey was having quite a difficult time walking in Donald's bare, webbed feet, especially with no pants on.

The group finally reached the spot that D.J. left "Piana" in, except he/she wasn't there when they arrived. All that was there, as D.J. left it, was Meagan Tully's _empty _Ghostbuster uniform, which Kim Spengler picked up to analyze with the P.K.E. It was drenched in the spirit slime, much like the rest of team's, but Kim Spengler noticed something more bizarre about it. "It's emitting higher levels of energy than all of our suits put together."

"What does _that_ mean?" Donald Mouse inquired.

D.J. frantically looked around the area. "A better question is where P.J. is with _my_ body?"

"Relax, Dr. Zeddemore." Goofy, Jr. told D.J. "It's not what you think. P.J.'s a real gentleman. He's…"

"AW, MAN! THIS IS SO COOL!"

It was Diana Zeddemore's voice resonating throughout the heavens, but it was P.J.'s attitude that carried it out. Hearing it, D.J. shot an angry look towards Goofy, Jr. and bolted in the direction the voice was coming from, moving as fast as P.J.'s bulbous body could carry her/him. The others followed after her/him, all of them moving to a clearing that they found Piana standing in the middle of, looking at the trees surrounding the area. At the moment she/he saw him/her standing there, D.J. immediately asked him, hands on her/his hips, "And what happens to be so cool, young man?"

D.J. was expecting Piana to point at the body he/she currently possessed; however, he gestured to the trees that surrounded the clearing and shouted, "Look!"

The others did so and noticed something rather peculiar about the trunks of the old trees. Etched into each of them were holiday-themed designs. One tree trunk had the design of an Easter egg, another a firecracker, another a valentine, another a shamrock, another a Christmas tree, and another a pumpkin with a Jack-o'-lantern carving. It was a strange sight to the Ghostbusters. They tried to make sense of it all, but it just made them more confused trying.

"What does it all mean?" D.J. asked.

"Some sick Underworld joke, maybe?" Sean Venkman assumed.

Kim Spengler, who had been scanning the area with the P.K.E., moved in closer to one of the trees – the one with the Jack-o'-lantern design – and noticed one key part of the design: it had a doorknob. Immediately, he/she alerted the others of his/her discovery, "They're doors."

The others joined Kim Spengler by the tree trunk, just as he/she began to turn the doorknob. Seeing him do so, Sean Venkman nervously suggested, "Wouldn't you want to open the Easter one…just to be on the safe side?"

"Easter never really was that much of a safe holiday for me." Kim Spengler contradicted.

"Of course. That chocolate _is_ quite a health hazard." Sean Venkman jested.

Ignoring the sarcasm, Kim Spengler opened the pumpkin-shaped door and felt a small gust of wind blow across his/her face. The group was greeted with a sight of endless blackness beyond the door. As Kim Spengler brought the P.K.E. Meter up to the dark abyss, he/she suddenly felt his/her arm being pulled into it. The others saw him/her lurching forward and grabbed his/her body; unfortunately, in the process, they were pulled into the darkness as well.

While the Ghostbusters felt a powerful force suctioning all of them, Sean Venkman screamed to Kim Spengler, "I knew we should've opened the damn Easter door!"

It was the last thing said before the Ghostbusters were sucked through the open door, which slammed shut subsequent to their disappearance.


	16. Chapter 16: The Halloween Door

**Chapter Sixteen: The Halloween Door**

A door built into one of the old black trees in a darker, eerier forest rattled violently until it flew open. The Ghostbusters piled out through the opened door and landed onto the cold, wet ground, falling atop of each other. After their arrival in the _new_ forest, the door slammed shut behind them. The team got off each other and observed their new surroundings, stunned to see the drastic change in atmosphere. Kim Spengler immediately took out the P.K.E. Meter to start scanning the place.

Sean Venkman, in the meanwhile, gave her/his teammates a pep talk. "Alright, guys. Stay cool. This is exactly how far we wanted to go. We're here!"

"And where exactly is _here_?" D.J. angrily inquired.

Venkman gestured around and joyfully exclaimed, "The heart of the Underworld!"

"She's right." Spengler informed while gazing over his/her P.K.E. "According to readings, we're in one of the hundreds of levels in the Underworld…not exactly the heart, but it's within the boundaries of the source."

"Okay, so…we're here…now what?" Mickey Duck asked.

"Now we find Shan Yu and the Black Cauldron." Venkman stated.

"How?" Donald Mouse exclaimed. "We don't know any way outta this forest!" His/Mickey's loud voice resonated throughout the dark, eerie forest, adding onto his point.

"The P.K.E. will guide us – work as a compass of sorts." Spengler gazed intently on the information being fed through the device and pointed in one direction. "This way." The group then followed his/her lead while he/she followed the P.K.E., which beeped every distance they took.

The Ghostbusters traveled for what felt like hours, despite time being irrelevant in a strange environment like the Underworld. While Kim Spengler held up the P.K.E. during the way, the others held their Proton Guns firmly in hand, prepared for whatever creatures that would pop out from the black trees. D.J. could have sworn that she/he had seen something with yellow eyes peek out from behind one tree, but it vanished the moment she aimed her/his neutrona wand at it.

"Are you guys seeing anything in these woods?" D.J. asked.

"Like what?" Goofy, Jr. inquired.

"Like people are watching us." D.J. answered.

Donald Mouse looked into the darkness, which was mostly all he could see. "I don't see anyth…"

_THUMP!_

Out from the darkness appeared someone who bumped right into Donald Mouse, causing both to fall hard on the ground. Alarmed, the Ghostbusters aimed their Proton Gun at the figure while Kim Spengler aimed the P.K.E., the only light source they had. The figure turned out to be a young woman in a dress – the same one that Meagan was wearing on _The Black Pearl_. She had dark blond hair and brown eyes that were registering horror while gazing upon the people around her.

Upon seeing the girl, Sean Venkman gave a direct order to the team. "Hey, hey! At ease, everybody! Lower your guns!" They did as she/he said before directing attention to the girl. "Are you okay?"

"I…I'm not sure." The girl spoke with a British accent. "I don't know where I am."

"What's your name?" Mickey Duck asked.

"Elizabeth Swann."

The Ghostbusters turned to each other with curious glances; it was a name they heard before. Hector Barbossa mentioned it to Meagan Tully before taking her to his quarters; the next time they had seen her after that was before they escaped from _The Pearl_ with Meagan, who was wearing the exact same dress as Elizabeth was wearing that moment. Each of the Ghostbusters began to make wild and crazy deductions about the young woman before them. The only one who did not look _too_ concerned was Kim Spengler, who started to scan her with the P.K.E.

Surprised by the strange device, Elizabeth reflected and exclaimed, "What on earth is that? What're you doing? What is she doing?"

The info appeared on the P.K.E. and Spengler confirmed what the group was collectively thinking. "It's Meagan!"

A range of questions were suddenly spouted out from the team: _How is this possible? When did this happen? Will she be like this permanently?_

Spengler gave his/her best educated guess on the situation. "It must be a stronger side effect from not only swimming in the Sea of Slime, but presumably the dress she is wearing. I'm reading larger levels of energy in it more than the slime."

"Is this gonna happen to the rest of us?" Goofy, Jr. asked in great concern.

"Negative." Spengler confirmed. "The dress created the metamorphosis."

"Then we have to get it off her!" Max, Sr. suggested.

Elizabeth seemed highly offended by his suggestion. "How _dare_ you!"

Max, Sr. blushed, feeling very bashful for making such a proposition. "Duh, p-pardon me, ma'am. Meant no offense."

"Perhaps I can assist you."

The new voice, as soothing as it sounded, made everyone jump in shock as they spun around and aimed their equipment at the second thing to pop out of the dark forest. This new person certainly did not look human; she a rag doll-type of figure with long red hair, big unusually-shaped eyes, a dress that was stitched together with multiple colored and designed fabrics, and a pair of black slippers. Her skin was a very pale shade of blue, and it practically illuminated the dark forest more when Kim Spengler shined the light from the P.K.E. over it. Upon seeing the rag doll woman, Sean Venkman appeared to have slightly recognized her.

Again, she/he commanded her/his teammates, "Lower your weapons!"

"Are you _sure_ this time?" D.J. asked.

"Yes, dammit! Lower them!" Venkman yelled. "I know her…somehow."

The rag doll woman approached Venkman, her hand moving the left side of the face that she/he currently possessed. "The face is different, but the mind is certainly the same. It's nice to see you again, Dr. Venkman."

"Kim, you know this…woman?" Spengler asked, looking just as surprised as everyone else over the rag doll figure's knowledge of the Ghostbuster.

"Yeah…well…I sorta do." Venkman replied. "She's one of the ghosts who visited me on Christmas last year. Her name is Sally. She's harmless."

Sally smiled. "Of course I am. In fact, I want to help you and your friends on your dilemma. Took quite a long swim in the Sea of Slime, did you?"

"Uh…you could say that." Mickey Duck timidly confirmed.

Sally chuckled on Mickey's response. "Well, follow me. I know somewhere you all can find help and someone who is just the person to agree to help you all." She gestured for the group to follow, and they obliged.

Elizabeth, taken aback from the surprising event that was occurring before her very eyes, willingly followed the rag doll woman as well. Between the curiosity of Elizabeth Swann and the dedication of Meagan Tully, it did not take much in motivating the young woman in moving her feet. Elizabeth wanted to see the strange situation through, but Meagan knew she had a dedication to the Ghostbusters, especially considering that it was still her first month as a Senior Ghostbuster.

After traveling a long distance from where Elizabeth appeared, the group suddenly began to hear noise close nearby. Due to its rhythmic nature, they had to guess that it was actually music. It sounded very upbeat yet certainly supernatural in tone, fitting well with the atmosphere. As the group grew closer to what appeared to have been a small, foreboding town beyond the dark forest, they began to see various strange creatures, popping out from behind the trees and singing harmoniously…

_I'm all dressed up with nowhere to go  
Walkin' with a dead man (dead man)…_

_I'm all dressed up with nowhere to go  
Walkin' with a dead man over my shoulder._

_Don't run away…it's only me!_

_Waiting for an invitation to arrive  
Goin' to a party where no one's still alive!_

_Waiting for an invitation to arrive  
Goin' to a party where no one's still alive!_

_Don't run away…it's only me  
(It's only me…It's only me!)_

_I was struck by lightning, walkin' down the street  
I was hit by something last night in my sleep  
It's a dead man's party, who could ask for more  
Everybody's comin', leave your body at the door  
Leave your body and soul at the door!_

Elizabeth and the Ghostbusters were led into the town, entering through a black gate with the name "HalloweenTown" structured into it at the top. A large collection of ghouls, goblins, and other supernatural creatures welcomed them, all singing the same upbeat tune. Sally brought the group to a peculiar fountain running with green slime just as the strangest creature in the bunch – a moving wicker man or scarecrow with a pumpkin for a head – standing upon the rooftop of a building and carrying a lit torch. It swallowed the torch, setting itself ablaze, and then leapt across the air, executing a flawless somersault.

The _lively_ pumpkin-headed scarecrow landed directly into the fountain, creating a massive splash. A geyser of slime went over Elizabeth and the Ghostbusters, who stood very close to the fountain, drenching them all from head to toe. Taken aback from the sudden occurrence, the team cleared their faces of the ooze – faces that quickly transfigured from shock to anger. Venkman was the most displeased of them all, not holding back on one intense outburst.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?"

That's when she quickly noticed that the outburst came not through Sean Spengler's voice, but through her _real_ voice. Upon the realization, her hands quickly went to her body, moving from her chest to her crotch – it _felt_ like the body of a straight-up female. Kimberly Venkman let out a hysterical laugh, turning to Sean Spengler, who was lacking glasses and a P.K.E. Meter (both of which she had), and gave him a hug. Meanwhile, the other Ghostbuster also recognized the correction.

"Hey, I'm me again!" Max exclaimed while his father performed his signature laugh.

"I am, too!" Donald Duck happily squawked.

Mickey let out a squeaky chuckle. "All good here!"

P.J. seemed a little less than thrilled to be back to his old self. "Aw, man!" However, he quickly changed his attitude as soon as he noticed the glare Diana Zeddemore was giving him. "Uh, I mean…Yay! We're…cured?"

"It appears that the slime from the fountain has counteracted against the Spirit Slime from the sea." Spengler deduced while taking his glasses and P.K.E. Meter back from Kimberly.

"Like an anty-dote!" Goofy exclaimed.

Max glanced over to Elizabeth, whose hands were covering her face after being splashed by the slime. "Uh…Meagan? Are you back to your old self, too?"

With her hands still over her face, Meagan answered the Junior Ghostbuster's inquiry with her own voice…except it still had hints of British in it. "For the last time…" She removed her hands, revealing the face of Meagan Tully, yet still carrying Elizabeth Swann's demeanor. "…my name is _Elizabeth_!"

Noticing Meagan/Elizabeth's dilemma (which seemed to have reached new heights at that moment), Sally told the Ghostbusters, "It will take more time with your young friend, but I promise she'll return to normal herself soon." She then heard bubbling noises come from the fountain and turned in time to see a tall, long-limbed and bone-thin figure slowly rise from the fountain, formally attired and donning an elegant bat bowtie. "Jack Skellington, how do you create such magnificent entrances so often?"

"Simple, my dear Sally – I gain lots of experience!" Jack took Sally's hand upon stepping out from the fountain and raised his arms joyfully into the air once he saw the group standing before him. "Ghostbusters! How excellent it is to see you all here in the Underworld! You seek Shan Yu and the Black Cauldron, do you?"

The team appeared to be very surprised by Skellington's brilliant presumption. "Well…uh…" Venkman stammered, suffering a loss for words (which was a rare thing for her).

Knowing he was correct, Jack continued, "Well, follow me. There is _much_ we need to discuss…a future to brace ourselves for." His joyful attitude then altered to immeasurable earnestness as he added, "The war has already begun."


	17. Chapter 17: The Two Jacks

**Chapter Seventeen – The Two Jacks**

In the laboratory of Doctor Finklestein were three jars filled with a green liquid and each containing peculiar items: a severed piece of a black and purple squid tentacle, a brain consumed by flames (despite being submerged in the liquid), and the fetus of a human/dragon hybrid. Captain Jack Sparrow gazed closely at all three of them, never before having seen such bizarre creations of the Underworld. Swallowing hard, he asked Doctor Finklestein, "Do you have any rum, mate?"

The wheelchair-bound mad scientist of HalloweenTown was near his operation table, which had contents sprawled out upon it with a long white sheet covering them all. "For the last time…I _don't_ have any alcoholic beverages of any type in this lab!"

"Well, I'm tellin' ya now, mate, ya better get some, 'cause standing in this room would drive _any_ man to drink." Sparrow commented.

Finklestein turned away from the table and looked to the pirate, seeming a little upset by his presence. "_Why_ are you here, Captain Sparrow?"

Sparrow seemed to hesitate a little with his answer. After a long moment of thinking, he suddenly answered with a question of his own, "Why are _you_ here?"

"This is my lab…I _work_ here."

"Oh…well…I'm working, too."

Finklestein shook his head in grief and turned his sights away from the infamous pirate.

The large, rusty steel door of the laboratory suddenly screeched open as Jack Skellington and Sally entered with the Ghostbusters in tow. Kimberly Venkman was talking frantically to Skellington on the way in. "Wait a minute! Hold your bony butt up! What the hell do you mean 'The war has already begun'? What war?"

"The war that Allha warned us about after our venture in The Seventh Circle, Kim." Spengler informed. "Shan Yu is the enforcer sent upon our realm to lead in battle against the Underworld – the only thing stopping him in continuing Chernabog's mission to merge our world with that of another in the ghost world, namely the Underworld."

Diana had a look of realization upon her face. "It's all starting to make sense now. Shan Yu kills Alexis to become the new Caretaker of the Underworld, his only way to gaining access here and wiping out all enemies that stand in his way. With all of them gone, he can use the Black Cauldron to summon Chernabog, who is the main source of power in merging the two worlds."

"Precisely." Spengler confirmed on Diana's theory. "Only the power of a god can enable two worlds to merge. Maleficent tried it with Hades, Frollo tried it with Chernabog, and Shan Yu will attempt it again with Chernabog once more."

Skellington grinned over the way in which the Ghostbusters was piecing everything together. He added the final piece to the puzzle by saying, "And the only thing in his way now is The Horned King. That's why you must reach The Horned King's castle and _destroy_ the Black Cauldron."

"Sounds like fun…glad I won't be part of it." Sparrow uttered, inadvertently directing all attention to him in the process.

When Elizabeth/Meagan noticed Sparrow, she squint her half brown/half blue eyes and curiously approached him. "Jack? Jack Sparrow?"

Sparrow recognized the young woman as one of the Ghostbusters, but he noticed how much she was dressed like Elizabeth Swann. Barely speechless, Sparrow uttered, "Do I _know_ you?"

"It's me…Elizabeth Swann."

"For now, she is." Venkman crucially indicated. "Until the effects of that purple slime wear off, she's half Brit."

Sparrow took notice of the slime that Elizabeth/Meagan's dress was drenched with. "Ah. Took a swim in the slime, did you? I remember when I took my first dip…I switched bodies with Blackboard. Had to get used to shaving for months before we eventually found the antidote, thanks to Mr. Skellington over there."

"Happy to oblige, Captain Sparrow." Skellington remarked.

"How _did_ you get across the Sea of Slime _this_ time without switching into anyone else, Jack?" Mickey asked.

Sparrow grinned and answered, "Sea turtles, mate."

Goofy scratched his head and uttered to his fellow Ghostbusters, "Gwarsh. Why didn't _we_ think of that?"

"If you people could end this mindless chatter, we can commence with what you brought here for." Finklestein uttered. "You should know that your _primitive _mortal weapons will not be a strong offense here in the Underworld. The levels of ghostly energy overwhelm the energy in your devices."

The Ghostbusters gazed upon their Proton Guns in surprise of the facts Finklestein was revealing to them. Diana smirked and said, "You're kidding? Do you know how many monsters we've defeated with these 'primitive' weapons of ours?"

"He's right, unfortunately." Spengler attested. "In our environment, they're stronger defenses against weaker opponents; but, in this one, it's the opposite."

"Topsy-turvy, eh?" Kimberly said. "Well, we're screwed."

Finklestein moaned in impatience. "If I can _finish_ what I was saying, you will discover that I have anticipated your dilemma and invented sufficient replicas of your equipment, powered from enough Underworld energy to match with the forces of those in this realm."

Removing the long sheet from the operation table, Finklestein revealed a collection of equipment similar to the Ghostbusters', except it carried a dark blue tone with purple lights and indicators and looked slightly warped. Finklestein's version of the Ghostbusters' equipment was quite monstrous in appearance – far from the "sufficient replicas" he deemed them to be; however, they caught the team's eye almost instantly. Mickey reached out to touch one of the twisted machines; but, when his finger neared its structure, it let out a massive shock to the mouse's finger, singing slightly through his white glove and exposing the black skin of his finger.

"Wow-wee!" Mickey exclaimed. "They carry quite a punch!"

"That's why you'll need to wear these." Sally revealed an assortment of black flight suits – similar to the ones that the Ghostbusters wore at the moment – packed within a box. She pulled out one that had the name "Venkman" stitched upon a nametag, showing how crudely stitched together the suit was with a dark red collar and cuffs on the sleeves and pants. "The fabric on these suits will deflect the dark energy from the equipment."

Kimberly couldn't help but to cringe at the design. "Did you…uh…make them yourself?"

Sally gasped in surprise. "I did, Dr. Venkman! How could you tell?"

"Call it a hunch." Kim answered, while eyeing the noticeable similarity between the threadwork on the new suits and Sally's rag-doll body.

Giggling at her reply, Sally tossed Kimberly her red-collared flight suit before tossing different colored collar flight suits to the other Ghostbusters. Spengler's had a blue color and Zeddemore's was turquoise, while Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Max, and P.J.'s were all lime green. Max noticed everyone got a suit except for Elizabeth/Meagan, whose attention was more on the specimens Finklestein was keeping in jars. "What about Meagan? Doesn't she get one?"

"Until she snaps back to her old self, we'll put her new digs on layaway." Kimberly responded.

Gazing in between the new suits and equipment, Diana pointed out one more important issue to the team. "Now all we need to do is how to find The Horned King's castle. Anybody know some way we can find it?"

Skellington was on the verge of answering Diana Zeddemore's inquiry, until a loud shriek was heard outside Finklestein's laboratory. Normally, he would be delighted in hearing such a sound, but the register on this one was more of the _bad_ type of screaming rather than the _good_ type that he was used to generating with his playful antics. Quickly, Jack Skellington headed out of the lab with Sally, Sparrow, and the Ghostbusters following behind. Finklestein and Elizabeth/Meagan remained in the lab, both willingly choosing not to get involved with whatever incident was occurring outside.

When the group reached the town square, they found several HalloweenTown citizens standing around and cowering from a single, ominous figure that was slowly moving amongst all of them. A closer gaze revealed that the figure was in fact Shan Yu, standing tall and menacing. The Hun warrior suddenly noticed the Ghostbusters standing nearby and rushed to them, shouting in his hoarse voice, "Ghostbusters!"

The team immediately pulled out the Proton Guns of their original Proton Packs and aimed them at Shan Yu, knowing full well that they would have no effect on him. Shan Yu stopped in his tracks and held up his hands, looking very surprised by their sudden action. "Take one more step, you murderin' scumbag! Go on! I dare ya!" Venkman aggressively demanded.

"Guys, I know what this looks like," Shan Yu said in an unusually normal tone of voice, "but it's really…"

"You've got five seconds to tell us where the Black Cauldron is, before we blow your sorry butt to pieces!" Diana yelled.

"Look! I'm trying to tell you…"

"One!"

"If you just give me a second…"

"Two!"

"You're not making this any easy, guys!"

"Three!"

"I'm not who you think I am!"

"Four!"

"Will you just _listen_ to me?"

"Five!"

"I'M LISA!"

The Proton Guns did not fire; instead, they slowly lowered in accordance with the shock and confusion shown on the faces of the Ghostbusters, as they looked upon a face that was far from friendly.


	18. Chapter 18: You Don't Know Jack

**Chapter Eighteen: You Don't Know Jack**

Sally was not positively certain what type of liquids the ravaged body of Shan Yu could maintain, but she tried to make the best cup of "Shadowed Moon" she could. The beverage was the closest thing to coffee – a beverage for mortals; however, Lisa was far from mortal at the moment. Sitting inside of Finklestein's laboratory in the body of the war-torn Hun warrior, Lisa was surrounded by her good friends, the Ghostbusters, as she tried to explain how she ended up in her current state. It was not easy talking in Shan Yu's voice, especially when half of his mouth was practically missing.

"Both Shan Yu and The Horned King were there with their armies, fighting all over Clearwater Beach. I was in the shack by the cauldron, hoping none of them would find it, but I was kidding myself thinking they wouldn't. Its power drew them directly to it. Shan Yu and H.K. battled it out in the shack – H.K. tried to nail Shan Yu with a dagger from behind, but he missed and Shan Yu blindsided momentarily. H.K. was no minor league player here, guys – he _actually_ put up a good fight against Shan Yu…damn near _killed_ him, if that's even possible for two ghosts of war like them."

Diana thought back on the Ghostbusters' discovery of the dagger found in the shack. "So that'd explain how the knife ended up there."

"Yet it doesn't explain how you weren't there, Lisa." Mickey said.

"Well, after The Horned King and his army were able to snatch the cauldron away, Shan Yu figured he would claim some sort of 'prize' to make up for losing the cauldron…so he took me."

"Why?" Max asked. "What kind of importance are you to him in all of this?"

The strain on Shan Yu's face mirrored with Lisa's emotions. "I had no idea at first; but, when he took me into the Underworld, I started to have an idea. We went to this secluded area in the woods where…" She stopped, barely able to utter the next part. "…they had J.G. bind to an altar of some type."

The Ghostbusters reacted in shock from the news.

"Hold up! Jay is here in the Underworld?" Venkman exclaimed.

"How did he get here?" Goofy asked.

Lisa shook Shan Yu's head. "I don't know, but it had to be the same way they brought me." She then continued with her story, "They tied me to an altar across from Jay's and Shan Yu began to 'inspect' me like I was some racehorse. He put his cold hands over every section of my body, analyzing all of my organs – heart, lungs, spleen, and everything else that seemed satisfactory for him. I think he was more impressed with me than he was with Jay. Next thing I know, he was taking his sword and jabbing it directly into my skull."

Her depictions of the moment made the Ghostbusters quiver and even feel a little sickened. Even Mickey had to swallow hard and ask, "You mean…he…killed you?"

"It seemed that way at first," Lisa remarked, "but he was actually channeling my spirit through the sword. I was still alive during the whole thing, feeling myself being sucked out of my form. After that, everything went dark. When I regained consciousness, I was in Shan Yu's body and left alone in the woods. Everybody – including _my_ body – was gone."

Diana seemed overwhelmingly puzzled. "Why the hell do they want Jay?"

"I don't know, but I bet they're heading the same place we're going." Kimberly assumed.

"And where's that?" Lisa asked.

"The Horned King's castle."

Lisa made Shan Yu's body shoot up in standing position, looking very surprised. "What? You're kidding me, right? You're planning on going up against the strongest forces of the ghost world with equipment only meant for _catching_ ghosts?"

Venkman chuckled at Lisa's disbelief. "Why does everybody have such little faith in our tools?"

"We're not going there with _our_ equipment, Lisa." Spengler clarified while gesturing to the operation table where Finklestein's equipment was sprawled out. "We've been given Underworld-based equipment that will be on par with the forces here."

Glancing over the strange-looking equipment, Lisa curiously inquired, "Will it be enough?"

"We'll find out as soon as we reach the castle, which we _still_ have no clue as how to get to." Diana indicated.

"The Center of the Underworld." Sally muttered, leading all heads to turn to her. "It's where the castle is. I only know because I've been there myself once."

Dr. Finklestein let out a displeased growl. "Sally!"

"I know you told me _never_ to leave outside HalloweenTown, but I was curious." Sally explained herself. "Besides, I'm not the _only_ one who's ever dared herself to enter the unholy territory. Oogie's been there, too."

"Yes, and look what's become of _him_!" Finklestein exclaimed. "Cursed to wander in limbo for all eternity with no chance of returning!"

Kimberly was certainly struck by that shocking revelation. "Whoa, whoa! What's all this talk about limbo? You mean we could end up in God-knows-where if we go to H.K.'s castle?"

"It depends whether or not if The Horned King allows you to leave his castle in one piece." Finklestein stated. "Oogie dared to enter, believing he could strike a partnership with The Horned King, but he instead found himself on the receiving end of His Majesty's dark powers. Of course, in banishing Oogie, The Horned King risked losing the only source of his powers in the process – The Black Cauldron."

"And now that he's got it back, we could run risk of being banished ourselves." P.J. woefully said.

"Not unless you have the proper guide – someone who has been to the Center of the Underworld and made it back in one piece." Sally stated.

"You mean _you_?" Mickey asked.

"OF COURSE NOT!" Finklestein abruptly yelled. "Sally is _not_ to go back to that dreadful area _ever_ again!"

"But we _need_ a guide." Mickey said.

"What about Jack? He's the only other one who's made it back all right."

Skellington appeared rather confused from her postulation. "Hmm…I don't see to remember ever going to the…"

"Not Jack _Skellington_…Jack _Sparrow_!"

The sound of glass clinking together caught their attention, and they looked to see Sparrow taking a bottle filled with a red liquid substance out of what appeared to be a refrigerator at the nearest corner. The pirate captain took a swig of the liquid, swished it within his mouth, and swallowed. With a look of satisfaction masked on his face, Sparrow happily exclaimed, "Found the rum!"

"That's cerebrospinal fluid mixed with blood." Finklestein told Sparrow.

Looking a little appalled, Sparrow glanced at the bottle and uttered, "I figured it was stronger than usual."

* * *

Donned in Finklestein's Underworld-modified gear, the Ghostbusters followed Captain Jack Sparrow out of HalloweenTown, exiting through the Jack-o'-lantern door that they used to enter. From there, the group trekked through the withering forest with the bleak dusk sky looming over them. Meagan, who was starting to come back into her normal persona, had to be given special conviction by Sparrow to come with the Ghostbusters on the mission. If Finklestein was right about the possibility of being sent into limbo, the team couldn't afford to leave Tully behind – especially once she snapped back to herself.

Meagan groaned, shaking her head. "Uhhh…what happened to me?"

"Hey, look who's back in the fray!" Venkman joyfully exclaimed. "We missed ya, kiddo."

"Why? Where was I?" Her hand went to her throat in suspicion. "And why do I sound more British than Louise Peck and Ferb combined?"

"There are still fragments of Elizabeth Swann's spirit trapped in you." Spengler informed. "Don't worry. They'll be eradicated very soon. If I could make an educated guess, I'll say that you've gained at least seventy-six percent of your personality back."

Meagan's hands suddenly went to her face, which was registering total shock. "Oh, God! Where are my glasses?"

"Make that _eighty_-six percent." Spengler muttered.

Hearing Meagan freak out over her missing glasses, Diana reached into the pocket of her new jumpsuit and removed them from there. She walked to Tully and placed the glasses over her eyes. Meagan blinked repeatedly before her eyes refocused and gazed upon the bizarre, new atmosphere surrounding her. "Okay, so…we're definitely not on a pirate ship right now."

"Far from it, love." Sparrow said just as the group arrived upon a large river of spirit slime where a dinghy was floating perfectly in place.

Diana grinned at the river of slime, getting a sense of nostalgia. "Startin' to seem like old times already."

Sparrow got into the front section of the dinghy and gestured for the others to follow. "Hop on board. With the river's current being as it is, we should make it to the castle in no time…which _actually_ is non-existent here."

Although they could not believe that they were following the lead of a half-drunk, half-crazed, and long-dead pirate captain, the Ghostbusters trusted Sparrow's word and go into the dinghy, which had enough room for them all. Once on board, the dinghy began to move entirely on its own – no oars to propel it forward. The team watched the withering forest around them passed by slowly; however, the dinghy began to pick up speed and things crossed them much faster. Within seconds, the entire forest was moving by like a blur – certain details became undetectable from the naked eye. The dinghy heavily shifted left and right, forcing its passengers to cling onto the sides of it.

"Okay! You can knock off the Willy Wonka sideshow, Sparrow!" Venkman nervously demanded.

Sparrow did not utter a word; instead, he simply stared forward at the front of the dinghy, his back facing the Ghostbusters. The team could not see how much his face resembled that of a zombie – ghostly pale skin, colorless eyes, and black lips. While the Ghostbusters were hanging on for dear life, Jack remained very still, his arms and hands kept in front of him.

And then…everything went dark…quiet and unmoving.

The river that they were trekking across suddenly lit up, illuminating only the dinghy. Soon a bright moon appeared in the sky, bringing more illumination to the entire area, which was a barren land full of mountainous decaying bodies – some half skeletal – and the black, cold rocks that they were laid upon. The Ghostbusters quickly discovered that Jack Sparrow was no longer in the dinghy with them.

"Wh-Where did he go?" Lisa stammered her inquiry.

Before anyone had a moment to make a deduction, Diana glanced directly ahead to where the river was leading them to. "Oh my god! Look!" She pointed and the others followed her gaze, seeing a dark, foreboding castle standing beneath a collection of stormy clouds – the only ones hanging in the bleak sky.

"Guess we've made it to the Center of the Underworld." Mickey uttered upon witnessing the sinister area.

Spengler soon looked away from the castle, which undoubtedly belonged to The Horned King, and noticed a large group moving towards it from afar. Taking out the special pair of Ecto-Goggles provided by Dr. Finklestein and placing them over his eyes, Spengler used the piece of equipment to view over the horizon and see who was in the group. After several zooms, Sean spotted what appeared to have half-decayed Hun warriors, some carrying torches to light their path to the castle. Amongst them was J.G. Stantz, his wrists and ankles shackled and uniform in shambles; from what Spengler could tell of Stantz, he appeared to be unharmed, only his pride hurt.

However, the most shocking discovery Spengler made through the goggles was the brisk figure leading the platoon. Operating the equipment to zoom in closer, he discovered the figure was Lisa – or, more specifically, Lisa's body – marching in place with the Hun warriors with a look of distain on her face. Spengler analyzed her form and, through an array of information fed through the device, found out exactly what he expected – Shan Yu had possessed Lisa's body.

"Lisa…brace yourself…Shan Yu has just put you right in the center of this war…as leader of the Hun army."

Shock came over the face of Shan Yu, mirroring the exact feeling Lisa had at the moment Spengler gave her the information. She knew exactly what it meant without taking a second thought. "Oh, hell."

"Marvelous choice of words, Lisa." Diana uttered.


	19. Chapter 19: I've Got You Under My Skin

**Chapter Nineteen: I've Got You Under My Skin**

The heavy black boots stomped their way over the ground, which was not made of gravel but the decayed bones of several warriors slain by The Horned King over the past centuries. One particular skull was crushed to dust by one of the black boots as the owner of them came to a halt before a moat filled with purple slime. The army led by the figure stopped as well, seeing the moat that ceased their path. J.G. Stantz looked to the figure rather than the moat; even though it looked like Lisa Marie, he knew in actuality it was Shan Yu possessing her body.

Seeing the dilemma he was facing, Stantz didn't hold back on the witty remarks – which were more in Kim Venkman's line of work. "What's wrong, Shan Yu? You've run out of road?"

Shan Yu turned Lisa's body around, not having a bit of trouble maneuvering it, and glared at Stantz with her blue eyes, which looked much colder when Shan Yu was using them. He grinned and answered, "On the contrary, Dr. Stantz…I'm just taking a moment to improvise."

The Hun warrior then gestured for a few of his men to step forward with their crossbows in hand and aim them at the raised drawbridge of The Horned King's castle. Firing their arrows, they connected with the wooden structure of the drawbridge; and then, with all of their supernatural might, the brute soldiers lowered it. The chains that operated the drawbridge gave resistance to the soldiers' task, but they soon lost the battle when they snapped apart, leaving the drawbridge to fall the rest of the way down with a loud _slam_.

Shan Yu unsheathed a sword hung from the utility belt around Lisa's waist and held it high. It was not the crooked sword that he normally used for battle; it was a more medieval one that sparked with an unusual blue and gold energy. With a barbaric yell, Shan Yu led his men directly into the castle, in which they were met with the forces of The Horned King – undead, nearly-skeletal warriors armed with swords and shields that they used immediately on the Huns. Shan Yu defeated many of the enemies with one swift stroke from his new, mightier sword.

Stantz, forced to enter the battle while still shackled, dodged and ducked whenever a blade almost came in close contact with his head and body. Lacking the shields and weapons that his captors were brandishing, J.G. was left only with the agility that he earned from his years of being a Ghostbuster. Those skills practically saved his life as he bobbed and weaved out of the battle and into an empty, dark hallway. He disappeared into the darkness – out of sight from his captors and their enemies alike – and rounded many corners of the castle, only the jingling sound of his chains accompanying him. Stantz could barely see his own hand in the near pitch-black atmosphere, coming close to tripping over his chains as he took careful, quick steps.

All of the sudden he bumped into something hard that knocked him down to the cold, hard floor. As he tried to pick himself back up, he heard a welcoming voice say to him, "Jay, are you alright?" It was Diana Zeddemore, a friend whom he hadn't seen in weeks.

"Dye? Is that really you?" Stantz inquired, looking into the darkness to find her face. Within moments, a light emerged from the darkness – one that J.G. was all too familiar with. It was the light from Sean Spengler's P.K.E. Meter, and it was intensified enough to brighten the entire hallway. Stantz saw his team – Venkman, Spengler, Zeddemore, and Tully – and a few Junior Ghostbusters – Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Max, and P.J. However, the one face that was less welcoming to Stantz was that of Shan Yu, who he thought he had ditched previously.

J.G. reflected from the sudden reemergence of Shan Yu in his true form, backing away with a look of horror on his face. Diana quickly went to J.G.'s side and calmly told him, "It's okay, Jay. It's okay. That's not Shan Yu…it's Lisa."

Stantz looked awkwardly at Zeddemore. "Lisa? B-But…h-how…"

"It's a _long_ story, man." Kimberly said. "But we'll go through it all later. In the meantime, we've gotta find the Black Cauldron and destroy it."

Spengler analyzed the current readings on the P.K.E., which were honed in on the location of the medieval artifact. Once he discovered the precise location of it, he told the others, "I've found it! Follow me!" The others did as they were told and followed the brainiac down the halls of the castle, letting the P.K.E. be the guide for light and direction.

Soon enough the light from the P.K.E. was no longer needed as the group came across a part of the hallway that was lit with torches that hung from opposite sides. Once everyone was in the light, Stantz noticed the new uniforms that his friends were wearing for the first time. "Where did you guys get the new threads?"

"Oh, we got them from this crazy scientist who likes to scratch his brain when nobody's lookin'." Venkman answered.

"That's cool." J.G. remarked just as he began to notice how he was losing pace with the team. "Hey, if it's not too much trouble, can one of you do something about these chains they've got me in?"

Lisa then stopped for a moment and unsheathed Shan Yu's standard sword from his hip. When J.G. saw the sword being unsheathed, he felt a bit unnerved and wondered if the others had made a mistake on believing it was really Lisa Marie underneath that menacing exterior. Of course, his beliefs were proven wrong as soon as he saw Lisa sliced the chains on his wrists and ankles in half with such grace from the crooked sword. The chains soon vanished in thin air once they were broken, freeing Stantz from their tight grip on his limbs.

"Thanks, Lisa." J.G. said while rubbing his wrists.

"You thought I was going to kill you, didn't ya?" Lisa asked upon sheathing the sword. Stantz stammered on a response to her assertion, which left Lisa to hold a hand up in protest and say, "Forget it. The least I intimidate people with this face I'll be much happier when I get back my real one."

Stantz sighed in despair. "It's just that…when I look at his face…"

"You see Alexis's murderer…I know." Lisa finished. "But I promise you that we will _not_ let this bastard get away with it. Once we shut down the Cauldron, we can end this nightmare once and for all."

And just as soon after Lisa made her promise, Meagan shouted from across the hall, "Hey, we found it!"

It was quickly after _that_ when Kimberly added, "Sure, Meagan. Let's just tell the whole damn castle."

Lisa and J.G. caught up with the others, rounding a corner and arriving in a very large, brooding room filled with the dead bodies of soldiers from various eras in one corner. At the center of it all was the Black Cauldron, which was emitting billows of green smoke when the Ghostbusters arrived in the area. Spengler stood dangerously close to the artifact, looking through the smoke to see what was inside of the cauldron. From what he could make out, it was filled to the rim with purple slime, which bubbled – despite the fact that there was nothing heating the cauldron.

"Should you _really_ be standing so close to that thing, dude?" P.J. asked.

Spengler shook his head negatively. "It's fine. There's nothing in it but…"

_GWARAK!_

A skeletal arm suddenly shot out from the slime, reaching out at Spengler's face. The Ghostbuster reeled back with a heavy gasp, detaching his particle thrower from his pack and aiming it at the arm. The half-fleshed, half-skeletal body of an undead World War II soldier emerged from the cauldron, letting out an inhuman howl – its first breath of air in years. With its upper half exposed from the cauldron, Spengler didn't allow the creature to escape any further. He unleashed a single purple-and-black stream from his particle thrower, and the undead soldier exploded instantaneously in a haze of bone and slime.

Once the creature was defeated, Kimberly shook her head. "And that, children, is why we never mess with pot…or _a_ pot, in this case."

Stantz moved over to the collection of bodies in the corner, noting the different eras that the deceased soldiers were dressed in. "Vietnam, Korean, Desert Storm, Iraq, Nazi Germany…where the hell did The Horned King get all of these soldiers?"

"Any tarnished soul in your realm comes to mine in the afterlife."

The answer came from a dark, foreboding voice from the shadows. Its owner then emerged into the light, revealing itself to be none other than The Horned King – his eyes like fire as they glared at the people standing before him. "You Ghostbusters have taken a large risk in coming to my castle…more so than that fool, Shan Yu." He glared over to Lisa and added, "Yes, I know you are not him…but, all in the same, you will suffer as _he_ will suffer."

"I _severely_ doubt that, _Your Majesty_!"

The voice spoke from directly across from where The Horned King stood. The Ghostbusters turned their heads to find Shan Yu (in the form of Lisa Marie) standing in the doorway to the room. Lisa noted how much the Ghostbuster uniform that she was wearing before having switched bodies with the Hun warrior had been tattered from the battle he was engaged in prior to his arrival. Torn pieces of the uniform exposed bleeding cuts, which also wasn't much of a soothing sight to Lisa.

"Dammit." She uttered. "I know I'm going to feel all of that in the morning."

Shan Yu slowly made his way into the room, his new sword held firmly right in front of him. The Horned King's eyes glowed when he spotted the sword in his adversary's hands. "I see you have obtained High King Taran's sword."

"I tortured his soul in the Circle for millennia before I knew where to find it." Shan Yu remarked. "He told me that it was your greatest weakness…that I could finally put an end to your reign here in the Underworld once I got in my grips. Now, _Your Highness_, you will witness the birth of a _new_ circle of Hell…The _Tenth_ Circle!"

With a vicious yell, Shan Yu lunged at The Horned King, holding his new sword high above Lisa's head. As he neared the wicked ruler, he brought the sword down fast and hard; unfortunately, the sword did not connect anywhere near him – rather something else came in contact with it. Another sword clashed with Shan Yu's…one that was Chinese in design. When Shan Yu looked to see who was holding the sword, he was met with total shock as he recognized the wielder's face.

"Mulan?"

Her skin extremely pale and neck carrying a heavy scar, the long-dead heroine of China was standing in between her old enemy and The Horned King. H.K. let out a wicked laugh and told the Hun warrior, "You fool! You think I was not prepared myself for your intervention? I had found an enemy of yours as well, only _she_ will handle the battle _for_ me."

The Horned King made a small gesture that immediately sent Mulan into a fighting mode, unleashing a fury on Shan Yu that forced him to fight back, whilst in the body of a mortal woman. Mulan's prowess was far more powerful in her undead form than it had been when she was alive, executing perfect somersaults and other agile movements that Shan Yu could barely catch up with. He was started to regret ever taking her form in the first place, finding himself running out of breath halfway into the battle. At one point in the swordfight, Mulan kicked him in the face, sending a bloody string of saliva flying out of Lisa's mouth, and then she kicked him in the chest, which knocked him to the floor.

Lisa watched the fight intensely, unnerved at the sight of herself being brutally beaten by Mulan. She heard The Horned King saying close behind her, "I told you that you would meet the same fate as him. He was a fool ever to think taking your feeble form would give him an advantage."

His words clearly had an effect on Lisa, as a furious look emerged on the face of Shan Yu. Unsheathing his crooked sword, Lisa lunged at Mulan – a move that took even _her_ by surprise – and unleashed some lightning-quick moves upon her. At the entire time Lisa was moving with such speed, she didn't tire at any moment. Mulan put up some resistance, but most of her moves were blocked by Lisa and retaliated with a powerful punch or kick that sent Mulan reeling back.

"Wow. This really goes against everything the movie stood for." Max commented while observing the battle with the other Ghostbusters.

"Never mind them – Lisa's got everything under control." Diana said. "We need to destroy that cauldron _now_."

The team followed Zeddemore's lead as she detached her particle thrower and aimed at the Black Cauldron; however, they were quickly robbed of the opportunity when The Horned King stood before the cauldron and unleashed a wave of ghostly energy that knocked them all back. The Ghostbusters soared across the room and their bodies smacked hard against a wall. After hitting it, they found themselves practically stuck to it, paralyzed to the point that they were unable to pry their bodies off.

"Ugh! What the hell just happened?" Kim exclaimed.

"It's The Horned King!" Spengler indicated. "He won't let us destroy the cauldron so easily!"

"Yeah, we guessed that from the way he just owned our collective butts!" Diana retorted.

The Horned King kept his focus on the Ghostbusters as they were pinned to the wall, failing to notice how Shan Yu was recovering from his battle with Mulan and taking immediate action towards him. Moving as quick as Lisa's body would allow him, Shan Yu lunged once again at the undead king and drove his new sword deep into The Horned King's torso. A long, agonized howl emerged out of The Horned King's mouth as he picked Shan Yu up by the collar of Lisa's flight suit and held him close to his face. With his focus no longer on the Ghostbusters, the team dropped from their paralyzed state upon the wall, hitting the floor with a collective thud.

Stantz looked up just in time to see The Horned King removing Shan Yu's sword from his torso and holding it over Shan Yu. It appeared that The Horned King was about to kill the Hun warrior in Lisa's body. Right away, J.G. screamed to Lisa, who was still fighting against Mulan, "Lisa! The Horned King!"

Lisa punched and knocked down Mulan before she directed her attention to the undead king, seeing how he was about to put an end to her body. "NO!" She sped towards the two figures like a blur, coming within close proximity to them in less than a second. Just as The Horned King was about to bring the sword down upon Shan Yu (Lisa's body), Lisa (in Shan Yu's body) tackled the two, bringing all of them into the slime-filled Black Cauldron with a large splash.

With the bodies of Shan Yu, The Horned King, and Lisa Marie all inside of the Black Cauldron, the medieval artifact's structure began to shake uncontrollably. Strange electrical energy sparked from the cauldron while the slime within it overflowed. The Ghostbusters' initial task of destroying the Black Cauldron was ultimately ruined by a series of unforeseen events – this one being the biggest of them all. They suddenly heard screaming nearby and noticed Mulan was rapidly decaying, her skin melting off and bones turning to ash, until there was nothing left of the once-proud heroine of China.

Witnessing the events unfold before them, Spengler deduced, "The cauldron's becoming unstable!"

"All because Lisa and those freaks took a dive in it?" Zeddemore asked.

"Precisely." Spengler confirmed.

"Well, that's good!" Venkman cheered. "This is what we wanted to happen."

Spengler shook his head. "No, Venkman. This is the total opposite of our plan. The instability could very well tear a hole in the fabric between this world and ours. Once the cauldron explodes, nothing in either realm will be left existing."

"Okay, so what do we do about this?" Mickey asked.

"We have to contain the blast with our streams." Spengler instructed, aiming his thrower at the cauldron as it was beginning to crack apart. "Fire with full intensity…_NOW!_" He fired upon the cauldron – the powerful stream from his Underworld-powered Proton Pack maintaining excellent control over the shattering cauldron. The other Ghostbusters followed his actions, firing upon the artifact while it continued in its instability.

J.G., the only one unarmed on the team, watched as the streams did their best to contain the unstable cauldron. The structure of the castle shook, evidently affected by what was happening in that room; although J.G. had to guess that the entire Underworld was being affected. The exterior of the cauldron crumbled, leaving nothing more than a ball of white energy hovering beneath the purple-and-black particle streams. It grew in size very quickly, overwhelming the force of the streams.

The Ghostbusters felt themselves losing control over the immense energy. They did their best to contain it; unfortunately, with the size equaling that of the room, the team was forced to shut down their throwers before they exploded under their grips. In doing so, the explosion was unleashed, consuming the Ghostbusters, The Horned King's castle, and everything else within the Underworld in a flash of white light. It made no sound – not a single _boom_ – making the nature of it far more supernatural.


	20. Epilogue: The Dead End

**Epilogue: The Dead End**

Partially covered in marshmallow goo didn't seem to hinder the Ecto-1 all that much as it drove like a dream with Dr. Stantz behind the wheel. The Ghostbusters fought bravely and had become the greatest heroes of New York City…and even the entire world. Rest was well-deserved for them that afternoon, and even Spengler knew that, being as exhausted as he had been after their confrontation with Gozer. The team went straight back to the firehouse headquarters along with Barrett, who they decided to let spend the night.

After traveling several blocks, the Ecto-1 pulled into what was left of the firehouse after Peck had shut down the containment grid. The entire rooftop was obliterated, but there was still enough left of the half-charred firehouse to suit for at least a decent five hours of rest. Of course, all of those pleasant thoughts of finally getting into bed (or, in Venkman's case, finally getting into bed _with_ Barrett) seemed to have gone away once they spotted someone standing near Melnitz's desk upon their arrival.

"Oh, God," Stantz uttered, "Please tell me this isn't another job."

"After all we've been through today, it damn well better not be, man!" Zeddemore grumbled.

Stantz parked the Ecto-1 in the garage, and the passengers climbed out. As they had done so, Venkman told Barrett, "We'll handle this stiff. There should still be some beds upstairs that haven't been incinerated."

Barrett smiled and nodded. "I'm _sure_ I can manage." Barrett then left Venkman's side and headed upstairs, leaving the Ghostbusters to handle the stranger who they presumed to be a customer…at least, from how the stranger appeared, they _hoped_ he was one.

This guy was quite the freak show – or "stiff" being the appropriate term that Venkman used a second ago. His head was bald and near-skeletal and his skin was severely pale, contrasting heavily with the dark, striped business suit that he wore, which fitted perfectly with his slim frame. After surveying the stranger, Venkman asked, "May we help you?"

"Hey, guys." The stranger waved with a slightly bony hand. "Uh, name's Ha…" He stopped himself and chuckled, seeming lost in thought for a brief second. "You know what? Call me 'Mr. Woods.' Yeah, that seems to suit me _nicely_ now."

Stantz shared an awkward glance with his team before asking "Mr. Woods," "So, uh, what can we help you with, Mr. Woods? As you _probably_ know, we've just faced the most cataclysmic threat this world has ever known."

"I highly doubt that." Woods remarked with a grin.

His words made the Ghostbusters confused and even a little cold.

"How familiar are any of you with Chernabog?" Woods inquired.

Spengler pondered over the name. "Pagan deity often referred to as 'Satan' in a few sources."

"His name in Slavic means 'black god.'" Stantz added.

"And a character in a _Disney_ cartoon, the last time I checked." Zeddemore stated with great sarcasm. "I ain't buyin' what this guy is sellin'. I say we throw him out before…"

"Your world and every other one that exists beyond this one are coming to an end soon." Woods quickly stated. "This isn't some Mickey Mouse business; I'm talkin' about the _real_ thing."

Venkman stepped forward and close to the stranger, almost sensing some intense heat emitting from him as if standing close to a fireplace. "Okay, Mr. Wood."

"Wood_s_."

"Say that we buy into this 'End of the World' gig you're shootin' us, regardless of the fact that we've _just_ prevented one…how much are you willing to _pay_ us for the job?"

Woods' grin grew larger. "Enough to retire you all from this business for the rest of your natural lives."

The Ghostbusters liked the sound of the offer, even if in the back of their minds they knew it was all too good to be true. From the way this stranger was dressed so sharply, they figured he had to be as wealthy as Donald Trump – maybe even more so. After all they had been through in the past twenty-four hours, the thought of retirement sounded beautiful to them. In a more scientific perspective, whatever job Woods was giving them could prevent another global disaster like the one with Gozer or possibly rid the world of ghosts forever.

The more the team thought of the job offer, the better it was sounding.

"Alright, Woods. You've got yourself a deal." Venkman agreed. "How soon do you want the job done?"

"You guys can rest easily for a while because it'll probably be a while before my contacts let me know when the time is right. They're pitchin' in on the purchase of this job also…and if you think what I'm offering is huge, wait until you see _their_ paycheck."

Now the deal was sounding flawless to the Ghostbusters, especially Zeddemore.

Venkman nodded with a huge smile and offered a hand to Woods. "Then, congratulations, Mr. Woods…you've just hired the Ghostbusters."

Woods took Venkman's hand and shook to settle the deal. "Thank you, Doctor…?"

"Venkman. _Peter_ Venkman."

**Coming Soon**

**Disney's Ghostbusters: The Dead End  
**


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